Capestro seeks closing-day success with two starters at Santa Anita

Paula Capestro had two chances to make closing day count at Santa Anita, and that mattered as much for the barn as for the meet itself. Chromeflash and Maker and Sons were entered in a statebred allowance over the hillside turf course, giving the veteran trainer a legitimate shot to leave Arcadia with more than a sentimental footnote.

The timing gave the race extra weight. Santa Anita wrapped its 2025-26 winter-spring meet on June 15, after an opening day that was delayed 48 hours by weather and a finale that became the first Monday closing program in the track’s 91-year history. A June 11 power failure shortened the card and pushed the season-ending program to Monday, turning the last day into a make-up date with unusual historical baggage.

That background only sharpened the stakes for horsemen like Capestro, whose stable has been productive enough to keep showing up in spots that matter. Santa Anita reported all-sources handle of $708,112,231 for the meet, with average daily handle of $9,196,263, the sixth straight winter-spring season in which the track cleared $9 million a day on average. The meet also drew more than a half-million on-track attendees, a reminder that even with delays and disruptions, the final card still carried real commercial and racing weight.

Capestro’s own numbers backed up the idea that this was not a long-shot sentimental play. Equibase listed her as a multiple graded stakes-winning trainer with 2,179 career starts, 273 wins, 238 seconds, 245 thirds and $7,778,242 in earnings. As of June 10, her 2026 ledger stood at 25 starts, five wins, three seconds and two thirds for $199,180, a solid season that made a closing-day score feel within reach rather than decorative.

Chromeflash, a 5-year-old California-bred colt by Danzing Candy out of Silver Score by Even the Score, brought the kind of local resume that fits Santa Anita’s hillside turf specialty. He had won at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos, and the downhill course has a way of rewarding horses that can stay balanced, hold position and finish the turn cleanly. Maker and Sons added depth to the barn’s hand, giving Capestro two ways into the same allowance instead of one desperate swing. For a trainer trying to end a long meet on the right note, that was the point: two live runners, one final card, and one last chance to turn consistency into something memorable.