Santa Anita: Tiz Point will get shot on dirt, perhaps in San Felipe or Santa Anita Derby

ARCADIA, Calif. - Tiz Point won an allowance race for 3-year-olds on turf at Santa Anita on Saturday, and is likely to switch surfaces for his next start.

 “More than likely, we’ll try the dirt, the way he trains on it,” trainer Richard Mandella said.

Mandella did not state what dirt race Tiz Point might try. There are two stakes for 3-year-olds on the main track in coming weeks at Santa Anita – the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes on March 10, and the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 7. Asked about the Santa Anita Derby, Mandella said, “You never know.”

The San Felipe Stakes over 1 1/16 miles is expected to be a tough race, including Sham Stakes winner Out of Bounds, San Pedro Stakes winner Midnight Transfer; Robert Lewis Stakes runner-up Empire Way; and possibly Liaison and Rousing Sermon, the first two finishers of the CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park in December. Liaison did not finish the Robert Lewis Stakes when jockey Rafael Bejarano was unseated in the stretch; Rousing Sermon was fourth in that race.

In Saturday’s allowance, Tiz Point led throughout the one-mile race under Bejarano, winning by a half-length over a hard-charging Our Boy Benjamin. Tiz Point was timed in 1:35.11.

A colt by Tiznow owned by Gerald Ford’s Diamond A Racing, Tiz Point has won 2 of 6 starts and $72,440. Tiz Point wore blinkers for the first time on Saturday. The colt has yet to start on a dirt surface. Last year, he won a maiden race on the Tapeta synthetic track at Golden Gate Fields in September and was fifth behind Liaison in the Real Quiet Stakes on a Cushion Track synthetic surface at Hollywood Park.