Lord Nelson likely favorite in SA Sprint Championship
Lord Nelson will be favored to win the $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 8 and is likely to be trainer Bob Baffert’s lone runner in the Grade 1 race at six furlongs.
Lord Nelson won the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 31 and is considered a leading candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint here on Nov. 5.
Baffert said Friday he will not run Power Jam, winner of the Pirate’s Bounty Stakes at Del Mar on Sept. 5. Power Jam has been taken out of training, Baffert said.
Baffert did not elaborate on the nature of Power Jam’s condition.
The Santa Anita Sprint Championship is one of three graded stakes on the weekend of Oct. 8-9. The Oct. 8 program includes the $200,000 City of Hope Mile, a Grade 2 on turf. The main race on Oct. 9 is the $100,000 L.A. Woman Stakes, a Grade 3 for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs.
The field for the City of Hope Mile is expected to include Express Himself, Obviously, Om, and Vyjack. Om was second to Midnight Storm in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 21. Midnight Storm will be trained to the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 5, trainer Phil D’Amato said.
Kitcat, a 4-year-old Chilean-bred filly, will have her American debut in the $75,000 Swingtime Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on Oct. 8, a prep for the BC Mile on Nov. 5. Kitcat earned a berth in the BC Mile with a win in the Group 1 Gran Premier Club Hipico Falabella against males in Chile in May.
◗ Trainer Steve Miyadi has been granted a stay of a suspension stemming from an altercation on Sept. 23 with California Horse Racing Board commissioner Alex Solis. Miyadi was suspended by the racing board on Sept. 25, pending a hearing which is scheduled for Los Alamitos on Oct. 11.