Save for the margin of a scant nose, there could be three
Breeders’ Cup winners running in next Saturday’s Grade
1, $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship,
a “Win & You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, going six furlongs.
They would be Goldencents, last year’s Dirt Mile winner;
Secret Circle, last year’s Sprint winner; and Merit Man, who missed by a nose of
winning the defunct Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint in 2012.
Trainer
Bob Hess Jr. said he plans to enter Merit Man in Saturday’s race, marking the
Florida-bred son of With Distinction’s first start since winning the
five-furlong Green Flash at Del Mar
on August 13.
“Merit Man is by no means a good work horse, but he’s
working well for Kent (Desormeaux, who has ridden the bay colt in his last four
starts),” said Hess, who has enjoyed remarkable success with the 44-year-old
Hall of Fame jockey dating back to the 1990s.
“Merit Man worked (Sunday going five furlongs in :59 2/5). He went well and
we’re set for the race,” Hess noted. “I want to see if he’s good enough to
compete in the Breeders’ Cup. We’ll learn that on Saturday.”
Hess and Desormeaux were virtually unbeatable together at
the recent Del Mar meet.
“Kent won on 14 of the 15 races we won there,” Hess
said. “Victor (Espinoza) won one for us. I pretty much only rode Kent.
“There’s always been kind of a natural respect and a bit of chemistry. It
doesn’t always work out, but it worked out at Del Mar. I think we can keep this
going — not to that level, necessarily, but we can keep it going and be
consistent throughout the rest of the year.”
Secret Circle also took to the track on Sunday for the Santa Anita Sprint
Championship, covering five furlongs in a bullet :59 for Bob Baffert, fastest of 83 drills at the distance.
Goldencents logged five-eighths in :59 3/5 on Saturday at Santa Anita for the
race.
In other Santa Anita Sprint Championship news, Irish-bred Rich Tapestry landed at LAX
on Saturday for the
race. The six-year-old Holy Roman Emperor gelding trained by
Michael Chang has not raced since April 27 when he was eighth by five lengths at Sha Tin in Hong Kong.
Winner of six of 26 starts, Rich Tapestry will be stabled
at trainer Leonard Powell’s barn at Santa Anita, then return overseas after
Saturday’s race for the Hong Kong International Sprint in December, according to
Cindy Niemetz, West Coast representative of the International Racing Bureau Ltd.
Niemetz said Rich Tapestry is the first horse from Hong
Kong ever to run in the United States. Jockey Olivier Doleuze has the mount on Saturday.
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