Without a clear favorite among the five entered in the $150,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3), trainer Doug O'Neill—who has three of the five—is hopeful any or all of his horses will seize an opportunity to move forward.
The O'Neill trainees—Irap, Dangerfield, and Term of Art—will occupy the middle stalls, and although they share only three wins between them, each has shown at least a glimmer of reason to think more talent might be there.
"All three have proven that they can go two turns, and it's a great opportunity for each one of them to show they can belong in the upper tier of 3-year-olds," O'Neill said of the 1 1/16-mile Lewis at Santa Anita Park Feb. 4.
Term of Art, a Tiznow colt owned by Calumet Farm, is the lone graded winner in the field. He took the off-the-turf Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (G3) at Del Mar in his final start as a 2-year-old, then misfired with a fifth-place run in the Sham Stakes (G3) to start his sophomore campaign.
SHEA: Term of Art Rallies to Win Cecil B. DeMille
Dangerfield, an Into Mischief colt owned by W. C. Racing and Zayat Stables, has a stakes win to his credit, but that is his only victory. After three unsuccessful maiden special weight tries in Southern California, O'Neill shipped Dangerfield north to Pleasanton, where he broke through in the Oct. 1 Oak Tree Juvenile Stakes.
Since then, Dangerfield has had a pair of far-back, third-place finishes in the Delta Downs Jackpot (G3) and Los Alamitos Futurity (G1). In the Futurity stablemate Irap, a half-brother to Speightstown , bested Dangerfield by 5 3/4 lengths for second—both well behind winner Mastery .
Irap may be grade 1-placed but remains a maiden. Back in the maiden special weight ranks following the Futurity, Irap ran fourth behind fellow Lewis entrant Sheer Flattery Dec. 31 at Santa Anita.
"They're all pretty evenly matched," O'Neill said of his trio. "They've all showed glimpses, and each one has to move forward for us to give any thought to move forward to Santa Anita Derby (G1)-type races."
Sheer Flattery, a Flatter colt trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, is one of two last-out maiden winners entered, along with Royal Mo, who is returning from a layoff since Nov. 27, when he won a mile Del Mar maiden race in frontrunning fashion by 1 1/4 lengths.
Santa Anita Park, Saturday, February 04, 2017, Race 2Entries: Robert B. Lewis S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Royal Mo (KY) Victor Espinoza 120 John A. Shirreffs 5/2 2 2Irap (KY) Mario Gutierrez 120 Doug F. O'Neill 3/1 3 3Dangerfield (KY) Kent J. Desormeaux 122 Doug F. O'Neill 7/2 4 4Term of Art (KY) Tyler Baze 124 Doug F. O'Neill 9/2 5 5Sheer Flattery (KY) Mike E. Smith 120 Jerry Hollendorfer 2/1
