Santa Anita: Salutos Amigos to try route in San Felipe

ARCADIA, Calif. - Salutos Amigos, winner of a six-furlong maiden race Feb. 9, is being pointed to the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on March 9, a race expected to draw a strong field of 3-year-olds.

Owned by Southern Equine Stable and Mike Smith, Salutos Amigos made his third start Feb. 9. The Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes will be the first start around two turns for Salutos Amigos, who is by Salute the Sarge.

“Why not see if he’s a route horse?” trainer Eric Guillot said. “At least this way, we’ll know.”

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

The San Felipe Stakes field is expected to be led by Goldencents, winner of the Grade 3 Sham Stakes in January, and Flashback, winner of the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes on Feb. 2. Other candidates are the maiden race winners Demonic and Kochees, the stakes-placed Hear the Ghost, and Tiz a Minister and Omega Star, the first two finishers of the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes on Jan. 26.

Omega Star, trained by John Shirreffs, led into the stretch of the one-mile California Breeders’ Champion Stakes, but was caught in the final sixteenth by Tiz a Minister, losing by 1 1/4 lengths.

“We actually learned a little bit,” Shirreffs said. “He started early and made a little move. He loafed a little at the end. That other horse came smoking out of the clouds.”

◗ Amazombie, the champion sprinter of 2011, worked three furlongs in 36.80 seconds Friday, his second workout of the year. Trained and co-owned by Bill Spawr, Amazombie could make his 2013 debut in the $150,000 Potrero Grande Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs here April 6. A seven-time stakes winner, the 7-year-old Amazombie was eighth in the BC Sprint here last November in his most recent start.