Breeders' Cup Sprint: Santa Anita Sprint Championship key prep for Trinniberg

Trainer Bisnath Parboo will try to walk a fine line when he sends reigning sprint champion Trinniberg out to make his first start in three months in Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

Parboo is hoping Trinniberg will be good enough to win the Sprint Championship without having to empty the tank too much just four weeks out from his primary goal, which is to defend the Breeders’ Cup Sprint title he won a year ago at Santa Anita. Parboo has given Trinniberg plenty of time off since his second-place finish behind Bahamian Squall in Calder’s Win and You’re In Smile Sprint on July 6. Trinniberg shipped to California from his south Florida base at Calder several weeks ago to have ample time to reacclimate himself to the weather and track conditions at Santa Anita.

“He’s doing very well,” Parboo said. “We really like what we’ve been seeing from him since he’s gotten here. To me, he’s doing even better than he did out here last year before the Sprint. We’re definitely going into the race on Saturday with the intention of winning. I think he’s plenty fit enough, even though he’s been off for three months. But at the same time, we don’t want to take everything out of him to do so, with only four weeks to the Breeders’ Cup.”

Trinniberg began his season with an 11th-place finish in the Dubai Golden Shaheen and a seventh in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes. Parboo said he gave Trinniberg the time off not because of any physical problem, but to have him fresh for his final two starts of the season.

“We didn’t want to start shipping him to New York for one of the big races there this summer, then bring him back to Florida and then ship out here,” Parboo said. “That would have been asking too much, especially since we still really don’t know how much it took out of him going to Dubai earlier in the year.”

Parboo watched last Saturday’s Grade 1 Vosburgh with keen interest and says he respects both Private Zone and Justin Phillip but believes their grueling efforts could have an effect on both horses come Breeders’ Cup Day.

“They are two very good horses but they ran a very strong race on Saturday, and even though they have five weeks, it might take them even longer to recuperate from an effort like that,” Parboo said. “Of course, we still have to see how hard we’re going to have to run this week, too.”

Trinniberg will be ridden for the first time by Jose Valdivia in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship. He replaces Willie Martinez, Trinniberg’s regular rider, who guided him to victory in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup.

“Jose knows this horse well,” Parboo said. “He worked him for me a couple of times last year before the Breeders’ Cup and again since we’ve gotten back here, and he believes the horse is much stronger and more aggressive now than he was a year ago.”

Trinniberg will face a group that includes top Breeders’ Cup contenders Goldencents and Points Offthebench along with the speedy Distinctiv Passion. The Sprint Championship is one of two Win and You’re In races for the BC Sprint this weekend along with the Grade 3 Phoenix at Keeneland.

One horse who will not make it to the Breeders’ Cup this year is Sahara Sky, who has been atop the rankings in the division for much of the year. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer confirmed earlier this week that Sahara Sky would not run again in 2013. Sahara Sky has not started since his victory in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on May 27 and remains turned out on the farm.

“I hope to bring him back to the track around Dec. 1 and get him ready for a 2014 campaign,” Hollendorfer said. “He got body sore over the summer, and if we have to miss the Breeders’ Cup we won’t mind since this horse has been so good to me and my partner Kim Lloyd.”