B Squared, Richard’s Boy will pre-enter BC Turf Sprint

ARCADIA, Calif. - B Squared and Richard’s Boy, the first two finishers of the $100,690 California Flag Handicap at Santa Anita on Saturday, will be pre-entered for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 4.

Whether B Squared and Richard’s Boy gain berths in the field remains to be determined. The BC Turf Sprint will have a maximum field of 14, but could have a greater number of pre-entries, possibly 18 to 20.

B Squared won the California Flag Handicap for statebreds at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course by a half-length, closing from fourth in a field of seven. Owners Paul and Zillah Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill discussed the BC Turf Sprint on Saturday evening, O’Neill said.

“It’s a possibility, for sure,” O’Neill said Sunday. “He looks good this morning.”

A 3-year-old, B Squared has won 3 of 9 starts and earned $243,735. He has never run in a turf sprint at Del Mar. The BC Turf Sprint is run at five furlongs. Earlier this year, B Squared won the Silky Sullivan Stakes for 3-year-old statebreds on turf at a mile at Golden Gate Fields.

B Squared’s win in the California Flag came a day after the Reddams and O’Neill lost Irap, the multiple stakes winner, to laminitis. Irap was being treated at a clinic in Pennsylvania after suffering a leg injury when finishing second in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 23.

“It lifted our head up a little bit,” O’Neill said.

Richard’s Boy, trained by Peter Miller for Rockingham Ranch, has won two stakes this year – the California Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on dirt in January and the Jim McKay Turf Sprint at Pimlico in May. More recently, Richard’s Boy was third in the Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar in August.

Richard’s Boy led in the final furlong of the California Flag, but could not hold off B Squared.

“I think we’ll pre-enter,” Miller said. “We’ll keep our options open.”

Miller also has Stormy Liberal for the BC Turf Sprint. Stormy Liberal won three stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita earlier this year and has not raced since finishing eighth in the Grade 3 Jaipur Invitational at Belmont Park on June 10.