Great BETTING card Saturday with many potential profits to be had. Don't forget to play the X- Country Pick 4 featuring two stakes from Santa Anita and Two from Gulfstream. You can get my selections and analysis for the entire Santa Anita card at Equibase, TrackMaster, Xpressbet, Twinspires, TVG, Keeneland Select as well as many and other wagering sites, usually in the handicapping store.

Race #8 - Rating = 2

#1 Hoppertunity - Fair odds 5/2 #5 - Fair odds 3/1 #9 Alfa Bird - Fair odds 4/1 #8 - Fair odds 4/1 # - Fair odds

Hoppertunity entered the Derby picture last year with a win in the Rebel Stakes in March, before a second place finish behind California Chrome in the Santa Anita Derby. Sidelined after that through the summer, Hoppertunity returned to finish second in his comeback last fall. In his second race off the layoff, Hoppertunity beat a solid field in the Clark Handicap in Kentucky at the distance of the San Antonio, earning a career best 118 Equibase Figure in the process. Returning to Santa Anita last month, Hoppertunity won the San Pasqual Stakes rather easily although regressing to a 100 figure. Never worse than second in four two-turn races at Santa Anita, Hoppertunity still may be a bit ignored in the wagering compared to the two more well-known runners. In short, Hoppertunity appears to have all the tools to win the race if he repeats his Clark effort as neither California Chrome nor Shared Belief has run as fast as he has.

Shared Belief ran the best race of his life at the distance of the San Antonio, earning a 114 Figure when victorious in the Stakes last fall over the track. The win brought his record to a perfect seven-for-seven at the time. In his next race, the Breeders' Cup Classic, Shared Belief was compromised by being forced into another horse when came over after the start. Subsequently, even more traffic issues made his fourth of 14 finish a significant accomplishment. Returning in the at the end of December, Shared Belief rallied to win by a neck and tied his best figure, 114. Likely to improve in his second race off a layoff and flattered when Malibu runner-up Conquest Two Step came back to win the Palos Verdes Stakes last weekend, Shared Belief could give Hoppertunity all he can handle in the San Antonio Stakes.

Alfa Bird has never run in a stakes race and but is the likely early leader with a need-the-lead style and high cruising speed. Alfa Bird enters the race off a pair of wins, the most recent at the distance of the San Antonio and rather easily by five lengths, earning a 109 figure in the process. A newly turned four-year- old the same as Hoppertunity, California Chrome and Shared Belief, Alfa Bird may have improving to do and if left alone for the first half-mile on an uncontested lead he could post the upset.

California Chrome earned a career best 116 figure at the mile and one-eighth distance he will be running in the San Antonio when victorious in the Hollywood Derby (on turf) at the end of November. In his next start, California Chrome was arguably as good as Bayern and as he missed by a nose and a neck to those two in the Breeders' Cup Classic. His accomplishments when winning six races in a row from December, 2013 through the Preakness last May cannot be understated. If he is able to transfer the form shown two months ago on grass to the main track, California Chrome could help to make this year's San Antonio Stakes the best race to date in 2015.

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You can get my selections and analysis for the entire Santa Anita card at Equibase, TrackMaster, Xpressbet, Twinspires, TVG, Keeneland Select as well as many and other wagering sites, usually in the handicapping store.

Read my weekly feature race analysis every Friday at Equibase.com by clicking on the MORE link on the home page.

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