Smooth Like Strait

Smooth Like Strait, a 2-year-old Midnight Lute colt owned and bred by Cannon Thoroughbreds, broke his maiden in his third career start in a turf sprint at Santa Anita Park on Oct. 31, 2019.

Sent off at 15.60-1 odds in a competitive field for his stakes debut, Smooth Like Strait scored a front-running upset win by 2 1/2 lengths in the Grade 3, one-mile Cecil B. DeMille Stakes at Del Mar on Dec. 1.

Smooth Like Strait finished fourth in a listed stakes at Santa Anita to close out 2019, and then checked in a good second in another listed event on the same course for his February 2020 debut. Trainer Mike McCarthy next shipped the colt to Churchill Downs for the listed War Chant Stakes on May 23, and he scored by 1 ¾ lengths under John Velazquez.

He was then given over two months off before returning in the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 9, which he won easily to improve her career record to four wins from eight starts.

Smooth Like Strait shipped back to Kentucky in late summer and finished fourth in the Grade 12 American Turf Stakes Presented by Smithfield as the 6-5 favorite. McCarthy kept up the cross-country schedule for his colt by bringing her to Santa Anita Park for the Grade 2 Twilight Derby on Oct. 18, and Smooth Like Strait responded by notching his third graded stakes score, taking the 1 1/8-mile race by a length and a half with Umberto Rispoli aboard.

Smooth Like Strait made his next start in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar in November, and lost by a head to late-rallying Domestic Spending in a thriller. He then returned to the winner’s circle with a professional three-quarter-length score over Storm the Court in the Grade 1 Mathis Brothers Mile at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 to close out his 3-year-old season.