From Santa Anita Publicity
ARCADIA, Calif. (Nov. 3, 2023) — Sitting just off of an all-out mad-dash for early supremacy, the Jose Valdez-trained Magic Spoon rallied wide turning for home en route to a convincing half-length tally in Friday’s $175,000 Golden State Juvenile at Santa Anita. Ridden by Tiago Periera, the 2-year-old colt by Good Magic got seven furlongs in 1:24.60.
The Golden State Juvenile is part of the lucrative CTBA-sponsored Golden State Series for eligible California-bred or sired horses.
Racing one length off of a three-horse spread consisting of Dr. No No, Stay on the Fence and Shady Appeal mid-way around the turn, Magic Spoon rallied wide and overtook a stubborn Private Gem a sixteenth of a mile from home and won as best in her second career start.
“I’ve been waiting for this horse to run again,” said Valdez. “This was fantastic. He had trouble in his first race and overcame it. Today we stayed behind horses and then when it was time to run, he took off. This was my biggest win as a trainer. My team is responsible led by Hector Palma. We’ll see how the horse comes out of this race and make our plans for the next race.”
A three-quarter length maiden winner in similar fashion going six furlongs here on Oct. 7, Magic Spoon was off as the 2-1 favorite versus 11 rival 2-year-olds and paid $6.00, $3.80 and $3.00.
Owned by George Yager’s BG Stables and Jose Valdez, Magic Spoon, who is out of the Canadian Frontier mare Canadian Mistress, was bred in California by Richard Barton Enterprises. With the winner’s share of $99,750, Magic Spoon increased her earnings to $136,350.
“This race, for me, there was more pressure because I was also the rider of the two horses in the race for Steve Knapp (Going Mobile, Mici’s Express),” said Periera. “But I rode this horse first-time out and he was impressive. He’s been impressive in his workouts. I opted to ride him.”
Trained by Mark Glatt and ridden by Flavien Prat, Private Gem ran too good to lose at 6-1 and paid $6.60 and $4.60.
Finishing third, two lengths back of Private Gem, was Dr. No No. Off at 5-1 with Ramon Vazquez, he paid $4.00 to show.
Fractions on the race were 22.52, 45.42 and 1:11.18.