Brickyard Ride gets acid test in Kona Gold

ARCADIA, Calif. – The most accomplished sprinter this season at Santa Anita moves up in class Saturday, and if he wins his fourth straight stakes race, owner-breeder Sonny Pais and trainer Craig Lewis would not be criticized for looking six months down the road.

Brickyard Ride, already a three-time California-bred stakes winner this meet and the lone speed Saturday in the Grade 3 Kona Gold Stakes, should be heavily favored over graded winner Miles Ahead, upset candidate Strike That, Tigre Di Slugo, and Strongconstitution.

None in the 6 1/2-furlong Kona Gold are as fast as Brickyard Ride, whose recent wins include dirt sprint, dirt route, and turf sprint. Lewis said he prefers not looking past Saturday, but why not? Six months from now, Brickyard Ride might fit with the best.

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“November is a long way away,” Lewis cautioned. “But if he’s as good as he is right now, he would be at Keeneland in November to try one of those races. I couldn’t even tell you which one.”

The Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Turf Sprint, and Dirt Mile will be run the weekend of Nov. 4-5 at Keeneland.

For now, the focus for Lewis, Pais, and jockey Juan Hernandez is race 4 on Saturday. Brickyard Ride, who has won 11 races and $680,977 from 21 starts, enters the Kona Gold in career-best form with a significant pace advantage and corresponding low odds.

While California’s top sprinter Flightline aims toward the Met Mile at Belmont, a former Florida sprinter makes his local debut in the Kona Gold. Miles Ahead, purchased by Samantha Siegel following a highly rated stakes win in February at Gulfstream Park, returns for new trainer Brian Koriner. The hope is Miles Ahead will run better than he works.

“He’s a bad work horse, a very bad work horse,” Koriner said, acknowledging he spoke with his former trainer about the gelding’s lackadaisical attitude. “I’ve had several talks with Ed Plesa about it. I said, what’s with this horse? He’s very moody.”

According to Koriner, Plesa said that Miles Ahead “doesn’t try in the morning. He’s a game-day horse.”

Miles Ahead, who has the same 11-for-21 record as Brickyard Ride, is a graded winner who earned a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure defeating multiple graded stakes winner Drain the Clock last out.

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“We bought [Miles Ahead] for the series here, the Bing Crosby [at Del Mar] and all through the summer,” Koriner said. “Hopefully, he’s that kind of horse.”

Victor Espinoza rides.

Strike That makes his second start following a layoff. He won highly rated allowance races in 2020 in the Midwest and East, and was claimed for $80,000 last year at Oaklawn Park by Hronis Racing and trainer John Sadler.

Strike That subsequently underwent arthroscopic surgery for a knee chip and returned early this month in a turf sprint designed as a prep.

“He ran better than he looked, and showed he wasn’t a turf horse,” Sadler said. “He’s shown he can run a [high] number.”

Strike That’s top Beyer is 100. He has won 5 of 12 and will be rolling late under Ramon Vazquez.