Brickyard Ride works for Crosby, his biggest test yet

Three-time stakes winner Brickyard Ride worked a half-mile in 47.60 seconds on Friday at Santa Anita in preparation for the most prestigious race of his career in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes on July 30 at Del Mar.

The $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs is the leading sprint at the track’s summer meeting. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint over the same course and distance on Nov. 6.

The Bing Crosby will be Brickyard Ride’s first start in a Grade 1 and will determine how owner and breeder Sonny Pais and trainer Craig Lewis campaign the 4-year-old colt in coming months.

“Hopefully, he’ll run as well as he’s doing,” Lewis said Friday. “He’s very comfortable and very good right now.”

:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures

Brickyard Ride has won 8 of 16 starts and earned $464,477. By Clubhouse Ride, Brickyard Ride ended a two-race losing streak with a front-running win in the Thor’s Echo Stakes for California-bred sprinters at six furlongs on June 12 at Santa Anita. Earlier this year, Brickyard Ride won the California Cup Sprint for statebreds in January and the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs on March 6.

Lewis could have a memorable final weekend of July at Del Mar. Warren’s Showtime, the multiple stakes-winning 4-year-old filly, is under consideration for the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on dirt on July 31. The winner of the $300,000 Hirsch Stakes receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Distaff on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

“We’re giving some thought to running on the dirt in the Clement Hirsch,” Lewis said. “We’ll see how she’s doing. She’s a filly that can handle any surface.”

Owned by Ben and Sally Warren, Warren’s Showtime has won six stakes – five on turf and the Melair Stakes for statebred 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita in 2020.

If Warren’s Showtime does not start in the Clement Hirsch, other options at Del Mar are the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf for fillies and mares on Aug. 7 or the $150,000 Solana Beach Stakes for statebred fillies and mares at a mile on turf on Aug. 15, Lewis said.