Bolo training well for City of Hope Mile

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bolo had a spring to remember and a summer to forget.

After missing all of 2018 because of injury, Bolo won the most prestigious race of his career in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on May 27 at Santa Anita, but had only one start at Del Mar, finishing eighth of 10 in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 18.

Bolo earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita with his 32-1 upset win in the Shoemaker Mile. Saturday, Bolo starts in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita, a race that could boost his status among the domestic contenders for the BC Mile.

“He’s doing so much better here than at Del Mar,” trainer Carla Gaines said Wednesday. “His overall demeanor is better. His feet were bothering him at Del Mar and here they are okay.”

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Gaines said Bolo’s foot issues cost him training time at Del Mar, and he did not start in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes in July. Bolo was beaten 4 3/4 lengths in the Del Mar Mile by Prince Earl, a leading contender in the $200,000 City of Hope Mile. Bolo was not in peak condition.

“I was expecting him to run in at least one of those,” Gaines said. “I hated to put him in a race and know he’s not ready for it. We decided to run there instead of shipping.”

Bolo, a 7-year-old gelding owned by the Golden Pegasus Racing partnership, will be ridden for the first time in the City of Hope Mile by jockey Tyler Baze. Gaines is confident Bolo can improve, all the while hoping the gelding can reach peak form for a tough outing in the BC Mile.

“You want to be at his best in November,” she said. “I want to win both.”

The City of Hope Mile has 11 probable starters. Aside from Bolo and Prince Earl, the expected runners are Andesh, Big Score, Catapult, Kingly, Ohio, Restrainedvengence, River Boyne, Synchrony, and True Valour.

Six for Sprint Championship

There are six expected starters in Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs – California Street, Flagstaff, Horse Greedy, Omaha Beach, One Flew South, and Shancelot.

The winner will receive a fees-paid berth to the BC Sprint at six furlongs on Nov. 2.

The $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship will be the shortest race of Omaha Beach’s career. He has not started since a win in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in April.

The Sprint Championship will be the California debut of Shancelot, the easy winner of the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga on July 28. Shancelot was third in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs on Aug. 24 at Saratoga.