ARCADIA, Calif. – A gaping void in the California handicap division will be filled Saturday by two prominent shippers who face an unassuming field of locals in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap. Locked and Hit Show arrived this week from Florida, and they start as top choices in the 1 1/4-mile Big Cap. The locals include longshot front-runner Mirahmadi; 2022 Big Cap winner Express Train; and graded winners J B Strikes Back and Katonah. New King, Tarantino, and Midnight Mammoth also are entered. The Big Cap is race 10 on a card that includes the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile, Grade 2 Buena Vista for filly-mare turf milers, and Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes led by Derby candidates Barnes and Rodriguez. Locked, the 3-2 favorite in the Big Cap, adds blinkers after finishing second in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park. A Grade 1 winner at 2 before being sidelined nearly a year, Locked returned as an improved older horse in late 2024. Now 4, he won the Cigar Mile prior to the Pegasus. He was never going to beat White Abarrio, but Locked could have made it closer. :: Playing Santa Anita? Get the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports available now. “He broke terrible, turned his head just at the start, and was already compromised by a tough post position,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “It’s hard to win from an outside draw going a mile and an eighth at Gulfstream to begin with. But you can’t do it giving them a head start as well.” Though he lost by more than six lengths, Locked reproduced the 100 Beyer Speed Figure he earned in the Cigar Mile, when blinkers were first discussed. “John Velazquez mentioned it after the Cigar Mile,” Pletcher said. “Even though he’d won impressively, [Velazquez] said, ‘You know, this horse might need blinkers at some point.’ Just felt like sometimes everything comes so easily to him he’s not always focused.” Pletcher added that 4-for-7 Locked has responded “with some really good works with [blinkers]. Hopefully, it gives him that little bit of focus.” Jose Ortiz rides Locked. Hit Show, fifth in the 2023 Kentucky Derby, enters the Big Cap having won four of his last five starts in graded stakes. Brad Cox trains Hit Show, who has won 8 of 16. Flavien Prat rides Hit Show, and Cox acknowledged the late-runner is pace-dependent. Hit Show’s most recent start was a last-to-first victory in the Grade 3 Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds. “He’s a horse that needs a setup, some pace in front of him, and he probably needs a fair racetrack,” Cox said. “He’s training really well since his win at Fair Grounds in January. It’s a mile and a quarter. I think he should be able to handle that.” The pace scenario is favorable for late-runner Hit Show, because the Big Cap includes four front-runners or pace-pressers – J B Strikes Back, Mirahmadi, Midnight Mammoth, and Tarantino. The speed of the speed? It might be Mirahmadi. “He runs hard and fast,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “You just got to let him roll early. He’s so one-dimensional.” Juan Hernandez rides Grade 1-placed Mirahmadi, who is up in class following an entry-level allowance mile he won by more than four lengths with a 93 Beyer. The main pace rival for Mirahmadi might be Tarantino, who has set or pressed fast fractions in his recent starts. But from the outside post, Tarantino may not need to be ridden as aggressively by Edwin Maldonado. The 7-year-old gelding is trained by Peter Eurton. “He’s a funny horse, when he gets dirt in his face, he doesn’t like it,” Eurton said, explaining why Maldonado usually asks him for speed. Claimed for $40,000 last summer, Tarantino has won two races and $147,600 from five starts since, including three in-the-money finishes in graded stakes. :: Santa Anita Clocker Reports are available every race day. Access now. Express Train, 8, would be the oldest horse to win the Big Cap since 8-year-old Olhaverry in 1947. John Shirreffs trains Express Train. A Grade 2 runner-up last out, Express Train is making his third start following a layoff, theoretically a horse’s best. “Especially a horse like Express Train,” Shirreffs agreed. “He’s an older horse, he’s not as motivated as when he was a 3-year-old. He doesn’t have the brilliance he had when he was younger.” He does have improving form and strong morning works. “Each race he’s improved just a little bit,” Shirreffs said. “And his last couple works, [jockey Hector Berrios] was really impressed. When he hit the wire, he didn’t want to stop. He wanted to continue his work.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.