Growth Engine latest good-looking addition to Hronis-Sadler team

In the last six years, owners Pete and Kosta Hronis and trainer John Sadler have teamed to win Grade 1 races with Combatant, Gift Box, Hard Aces, and Higher Power, all purchased as horses of racing age.

Their most recent acquisition is Growth Engine, a 5-year-old Tapit gelding who is scheduled to have his California debut in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita. Flavien Prat is booked to ride Growth Engine, Sadler said in a text message Sunday.

:: Get Brad Free’s Betting Strategies for Saturday’s card at Santa Anita

Growth Engine, previously trained by Chad Brown, has a difficult act to follow.

Combatant, scratched from Saturday’s Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park, won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in 2020. Gift Box, now retired to stud in Kentucky, won the Big Cap in 2019. Hard Aces, now at stud in Louisiana, won the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita in 2015. Higher Power, also at stud in Kentucky, won the Grade 1 Pacific Classic in 2019.

Growth Engine won 3 of 7 starts and earned $133,780 for Klaravich Stable and Brown before he was sold for $150,000 at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale a few months ago.

Growth Engine has not raced since winning an allowance race at a mile and 70 yards on Sept. 19 at Monmouth Park.

:: Get Brad Free’s Betting Strategies for Saturday’s card at Santa Anita

The San Pasqual, a key prep to the $400,000 Santa Anita Handicap on March 6, is expected to have a field of six or seven. From a list of 10 nominations, the list of candidates includes Express Train, Idol, Multiplier, Tizamagician, and Zestful. Extra Hope, the winner of the Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes on Nov. 21 at Del Mar, is under consideration, trainer Richard Mandella said Sunday.

The San Pasqual is one of three graded stakes scheduled for Saturday at Santa Anita, along with the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf and the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.

Spielberg, winner of the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 19, and Hot Rod Charlie, the 94-1 runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 6 at Keeneland, are the leading candidates for the $100,000 Lewis Stakes.