Just a Touch will be heavily favored to win a depleted renewal of the $300,000 Santa Anita Handicap (G1), but should Vodka Vodka prevail in the March 7 race, that story would make a poignant addition to the historic race's lore.
The race lost its probable favorite when Skippylongstocking had to be scratched due to issues boarding a scheduled flight earlier this week. Then came news March 5 that Westwood, one of the race's other contenders, would bypass the 1 1/4-mile race to pursue a shorter race at 1 1/8 miles in the March 21 New Orleans Classic Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Daily Racing Form reported.
That leaves Just a Touch as an odds-on favorite and Vodka Vodka a midpriced contender in a race now expected to have just five runners. Another contender is Getaway Car, second to Westwood in the Jan. 31 San Pasqual Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park.
Should Getaway Car win, he would become the seventh Santa Anita Handicap victor for trainer Bob Baffert. Getaway Car won the Best Pal Stakes (G3) at 2 in 2024 and the Sunland Park Derby at 3 in 2025, both times under jockey Juan Hernandez, who will be back aboard.
Vodka Vodka takes a big leap forward in class, having last defeated California-breds in the Jan. 17 Unusual Heat Turf Classic Stakes. His half sister Om N Joy was honored March 2 as the champion Cal-bred 3-year-old filly of 2025, and she is entered in the B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile Stakes (G1) on the same card.
"I think he is a better horse on dirt," trainer Aggie Ordonez said. "I wouldn't run him in open company on grass, but I think he's a very special horse on dirt. I'm hoping he brings it the way he did on Breeders' Cup Friday. That race on the dirt blew my mind."
On that day, Oct. 31 at Del Mar, Vodka Vodka made a huge move on the second turn of a 1-mile allowance optional claimer to score by 2 3/4 lengths over Westwood. Regular pilot Kent Desormeaux will ride Vodka Vodka.
"This is the race in California—it's the one you want to win," Ordonez said of the Santa Anita Handicap. "It's a career-maker and would mean everything to me."
Vodka Vodka will get in with the lightest weight assignment of 116 pounds under the handicap conditions. Skippylongstocking had been assigned high weight of 125 pounds, and now Just a Touch carries the top weight of 121 pounds.
Brad Cox is shipping in Just a Touch, who is coming off a neck loss in the Jan. 17 Louisiana Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds. Just a Touch has yet to win a stakes, but he has four seconds and a third in graded company.
Midnight Mammoth, trained by Craig Dollase, is the only horse in the field who also competed in the 2025 edition, won by Locked . Midnight Mammoth finished fourth last year. In six subsequent starts, the graded stakes winner won two allowance optional claiming races and ran second, by three-quarters of a length, in the Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (G2) to Skippylongstocking.
Trainer Richard Baltas has entered British Isles, who most recently finished fifth to Skippylongstocking in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) Jan. 24. British Isles has not won a stakes, though he was second in last year's Native Diver Stakes (G3).
Santa Anita Park, Saturday, March 7, 2026, Race 10Entries: Santa Anita H. presented by Yaamava' Resort & Casino at San Manuel (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Midnight Mammoth (KY) Armando Ayuso 119 Craig Dollase 8/1 2 2Getaway Car (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 120 Bob Baffert 3/1 3 3Just a Touch (KY) Florent Geroux 121 Brad H. Cox 3/2 4 4Vodka Vodka (CA) Kent J. Desormeaux 116 Aggie Ordonez 6/1 98 5Skippylongstocking (KY) SCRATCHED 0 UNKNOWN - 5 6British Isles (KY) Diego A. Herrera 119 Richard Baltas 6/1 6 7Westwood (KY) Kazushi Kimura 121 Peter Eurton 7/2
