Motion trying to gauge if Trikari is Breeders' Cup-ready

The lone 3-year-old, and only shipper, in Saturday’s Grade 2 City of Hope Mile on turf at Santa Anita is the millionaire Trikari who has shown rapid improvement since early spring.

Trikari has won four stakes at four different tracks in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia by racing near the front or from slightly off the pace.

The varying tactics make Trikari an intriguing candidate against a cast of well-established locals in the $200,000 City of Hope Mile, a race with ramifications for later this fall. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 2.

With Trikari, the BC Mile has been foremost on trainer Graham Motion’s mind since the colt’s win in the Grade 2 Secretariat Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf at Colonial Downs in Virginia on Aug. 11.

The City of Hope is a chance to determine whether the BC Mile is realistic.

“I think it’s a huge step for him,” Motion said. “I just got to thinking after his last win, I thought he ran so well, if he keeps improving we have to consider if he’s good enough to be a horse to run in the Breeders’ Cup.

“You’ve got to find out if he’s up to it.”

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Owned by John and Jerry Amerman, Trikari was purchased for a mere $27,500 as a yearling in 2022 and has earned $1,303,530. Trikari is by Oscar Performance, a seven-time stakes winner for the Amermans from 2016 to 2018.

Oscar Performance won the 2016 BC Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita, but was last of 14 as the 5-2 favorite in the 2018 BC Mile at Churchill Downs in his final career start.

Like Trikari, Oscar Performance won the Grade 1 Belmont Derby at 1 1/4 miles and Secretariat Stakes in consecutive starts in his 3-year-old season in 2017. That year, the Secretariat Stakes was run at 1 1/4 miles at Arlington Park and had Grade 1 designation.

This year, Trikari’s four stakes wins have ranged in distances from a mile in the Secretariat Stakes to 1 3/16 miles in the Belmont Derby at Aqueduct on July 6.

Motion said he opted for the City of Hope Mile over the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 5, a far more lucrative race with a purse of $1.25 million. The winner of the Coolmore Turf Mile also receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Mile.

“I struggled between this race and Keeneland,” Motion said. “Ultimately this gives us five weeks, if he runs well enough, to go to the Breeders’ Cup whereas the other race is a much quicker turnaround, which I don’t think is ideal.”

The City of Hope Mile is the last race on a 10-race program that includes four other stakes. The City of Hope field is led by Johannes, who is unbeaten in three starts on turf this year in California, and Conclude, the winner of the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on turf on Aug. 31.

- additional reporting by Brad Free

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