Express Train enters Awesome Again with eye on BC Classic berth
The last time Express Train ran 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita he won the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes in January.
In five subsequent starts, Express Train has one win – the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar in July. Express Train is back in a race at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita in Saturday’s Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes.
This time, the stakes are more valuable than in January.
The winner of the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 6, a free pass to the country’s most prestigious race for older horses.
“That would be super,” trainer John Shirreffs said Sunday.
Express Train was sixth as the 2-1 favorite in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles at Del Mar on Aug. 21, racing in tight quarters on the first turn. Shirreffs has been encouraged by Express Train’s subsequent workouts, notably five furlongs in 1:00.20 on Sunday under jockey Juan Hernandez.
“I thought he looked very good,” Shirreffs said. “He covered the track really nice and extended well at the end of the work.
“His work today was really good, one of his best works ever. When Juan said he asked him, he really responded. He had a lot of horse.”
Owned by Lee and Susan Searing, Express Train will have a familiar cast of rivals in the Awesome Again Stakes, and a few notable additions.
Tripoli and Tizamagician, first and second in the Pacific Classic, are expected to start, along with Idol, unraced since a win in the Santa Anita Handicap in March, and Medina Spirit, who finished first in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in May.
Medina Spirit tested positive for the regulated medication betamethasone after the Kentucky Derby. The case is the subject of ongoing legal action, which could lead to an eventual change in the official order of finish. Medina Spirit, who worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Saturday, was scratched from that day’s Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing.
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On Sunday, Tripoli and Tizamagician each worked five furlongs in 1:00.20, while Idol worked six furlongs in 1:12.
The Awesome Again Stakes is one of 13 six-figure stakes at Santa Anita from Friday through Sunday that are preps for Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 5-6. The Santa Anita meeting begins on Friday and runs through Oct. 31.