Brickyard Ride goes after meet record in Triple Bend

ARCADIA, Calif. – It seems unusual for a sprinter with a take-no-prisoners running style to carve his place in racing history at a pace as measured as the favorite in the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes on Sunday at Santa Anita.

He is Brickyard Ride, a pedal-to-the-metal speedball whose ascent from California-bred curiosity to one of Santa Anita’s most accomplished stakes winners has taken place gradually, over the past year and a half.

Since early 2021, the 5-year-old son of Clubhouse Ride has won seven Santa Anita stakes, including four this year. On Sunday, Brickyard Ride is favored to race gate to wire in the seven-furlong $200,000 Triple Bend.

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Trained by Craig Lewis and owned and bred by Sonny Pais, Brickyard Ride has won 12 races and $740,977 from 22 starts. Brickyard Ride, whose rider is Juan Hernandez, is entering rarefied air.

Only a handful of horses have won more Santa Anita stakes (winter and fall combined) than Brickyard Ride. It is a select list: Beholder (13), John Henry (12), Ancient Title (10), Terrang (10), Megahertz (9), Flying Paster (8) and Precisionist (8).

“Pretty humbling,” Lewis said. “Even if I didn’t train him, I’m a fan. I appreciate horses like that.”

Who doesn’t? Brickyard Ride faces five rivals Sunday including fast but lightly raced allowance winner Elector and Cal-bred stakes winner Principe Carlo. The others are longshots. Get Her Number, now 4, won a Grade 1 at 2; Exaulted runs for the first time since finishing third in last year’s Triple Bend; and American Theorem.

If the race unfolds as expected, Brickyard Ride should make the lead and wire the field. He would be the first horse to win five successive stakes in a single Santa Anita meet since Round Table in 1957-58, and at age 5 Brickyard Ride has never been better. He was always quick, but he has learned to break better and ration his speed.

“He’s a lot more mature, and a lot more relaxed,” Lewis said. “He knows what’s going on now. He has developed, mentally and physically.”

The Triple Bend is Brickyard Ride’s final start of the Santa Anita meet, after which he will target Del Mar. Lewis and Pais will consider two races on July 30 – the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at six furlongs, and Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles. In summer, Brickyard Ride will face an unanswered question – can he be as effective at other tracks?

“He might just love Santa Anita,” Lewis said. “I really don’t know.”

Elector is the likely second choice in the Triple Bend, based on highly rated maiden and allowance wins. Trainer John Sadler entered Elector in a Grade 3 mile on Monday at Lone Star, but opted to keep him home.

“I didn’t like the draw [at Lone Star],” Sadler said, referring to Elector being drawn inside other speed horses. “Here, we have the one big horse and a good draw going seven-eighths.”

Elector breaks from the outside post in the six-horse field.