FROM OFF THE PACE: Notes on Pedigree

FROM OFF THE PACE: Notes on Pedigree

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — The 404th and final graded-stakes race of 2025, the Joe Hernandez Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita, was won by Gas Me Up, a five-year-old Hard Spun gelding who rallied from last to get up by 1 ¼ lengths at odds of 13-1. The 404 graded races were the fewest since the 378 in the COVID year of 2020. The number of graded stakes has been decreasing since the late 1980s, as has the size of the annual thoroughbred foal crop. Sire lin…