Brickyard Ride looks long gone in Kona Gold

Brickyard Ride has an ideal outside post in a field of four in Sunday’s Grade 3 Kona Gold Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita.

Brickyard Ride is the speed of the race, has won his last two starts, and is in the best form of his career. The draw seems to give him an even greater advantage in the Kona Gold.

“Catch him if you can,” trainer Craig Lewis said. “He’s an exciting horse.”

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Owned and bred by Sonny Pais, Brickyard Ride won the California Cup Sprint at six furlongs for statebreds on Jan. 16 and the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs on March 6. In the San Carlos, Brickyard Ride led throughout and prevailed by four lengths in a visually impressive performance.

Since then, Brickyard Ride has recorded a series of quick morning workouts, notably five furlongs in 59 seconds on April 3. Last Sunday, Brickyard Ride went a half-mile in 48.80, a time that was downright pokey by the colt’s standards.

“He’s very fast, so he can work quickly,” Lewis said. “We tried to slow him down last time.”

Brickyard Ride will be ridden by apprentice jockey Alexis Centeno.

Brickyard Ride’s rivals in the $100,000 Kona Gold are Ax Man and Cezanne, trained by Bob Baffert, and Fight On, trained by Doug O’Neill.

Ax Man won the Santana Mile from the front on March 28, setting an appropriate pace for a two-turn race.

“He’s better going long and getting the lead,” Baffert said. “There is nowhere else to run the horse. I want to see what he can do.”

Cezanne, purchased for $3.65 million at a 2-year-olds in training sale in 2019, has not raced since he finished last of four in the Shared Belief Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile at Del Mar last August, his only loss in three starts.

“He’s on the comeback,” Baffert said. “I was going to wait for the allowance race and I saw this race was coming up really, really short. There is basically one horse that looks like a standout.

“We can give him a race here. We can work off of this.”

Cezanne drew the rail in the Kona Gold. A colt by Curlin, Cezanne has shown speed, racing close to the pace when he won a maiden special weight race at 6 1/2 furlongs in his debut last June. Cezanne is unlikely to outrun Brickyard Ride in the opening furlong on Sunday.

“It will be interesting to see what strategy Mr. Baffert employs,” Lewis said.

Fight On, who was third in a Group 3 sprint in Dubai in March 2020, has not raced since August when he finished fourth when eligible to be claimed for $80,000 in a race at Del Mar. Fight On races as the outsider in the field.