Conquest Tsunami switching to dirt for Palos Verdes
ARCADIA, Calif. – Roy H, the reigning champion sprinter, will not be the only runner in Saturday’s Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes at Santa Anita from trainer Peter Miller’s stable.
Miller said on Wednesday that he plans to run the turf-stakes winner Conquest Tsunami in what is being considered an experiment.
“We want to try him on the dirt,” Miller said. “We know he’s fast. We know he’ll be up on the lead.”
Owned by Gary Barber, Conquest Tsunami has won 8 of 28 starts in his career and 5 of 12 races on dirt or synthetic surfaces. A 7-year-old gelding, Conquest Tsunami won the Street Sense Stakes on dirt at Churchill Downs in October 2014 when trained by Mark Casse.
Conquest Tsunami won his first three starts, which came on synthetic tracks at Keeneland and Woodbine in the spring and summer of 2014, including two stakes.
He joined Miller’s stable in the winter of 2017-18. Last year, Conquest Tsunami won 2 of 7 starts while racing only on turf, with both wins on the hillside turf course. He won the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes on the hillside turf course last February. He was 11th behind stablemate Stormy Liberal in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs in November.
In his first start this year, Conquest Tsunami set a scorching pace and finished third in the Grade 3 Joe Hernandez Stakes on the hillside turf course on Jan. 1.
Roy H, who runs from a stalking position, will be heavily favored in the $200,000 Palos Verdes at six furlongs, his first start since a win in the BC Sprint at Churchill Downs in November.
The Palos Verdes, the richest race at Santa Anita this weekend, will probably have a small field. Other probable starters are Awesome Anywhere, Kanthaka, St. Joe Bay, and Touched by Autism.
Kanthaka, trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, won two graded stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita last year but was a troubled eighth in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at seven furlongs on Dec. 26 in his first start since May.
