Collusion Illusion points to Breeders' Cup Sprint

DEL MAR, Calif. - Collusion Illusion, who won the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 1, is scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Sept. 27 as a prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

On Sunday at Del Mar, Collusion Illusion worked a half-mile in 48 seconds, his second workout since a nose win in the Bing Crosby.

The $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship is run at six furlongs and offers a fees-paid berth for the winner to the BC Sprint. The Bing Crosby had the same condition.

The Sept. 26 program at Santa Anita is led by the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes for older horses at 1 1/8 miles, a $300,000 race that offers a fees-paid berth for the winner to the BC Classic on Nov. 7.

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Trainer Mark Glatt said Sharp Samurai, runner-up to Maximum Security in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 22 in his dirt stakes debut, is a candidate for the Awesome Again. Sharp Samurai is a multiple stakes winner on turf and could return to that surface for a race on Oct. 3 - the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita or the Grade 1 Shadwell Mile at Keeneland.

“We’ll see how the Awesome Again shapes up,” Glatt said. “We’ll play it by ear.”

The Santa Anita autumn meeting begins on Sept. 19.