Papaprodromou has two top sprinters

California trainer George Papaprodromou will have a strong team of sprinters this spring, including a lightly raced 5-year-old who is unbeaten in two starts this year.

On Saturday at Santa Anita, Spirit of Makena won his stakes debut in the Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs in his fourth career start. The style of the win suggests that Spirit of Makena will have a presence in the circuit’s leading sprints in 2023.

The stable already has American Theorem, a multiple stakes winner who has not raced since an eighth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland in November. The winner of the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar last summer, American Theorem is in training for a comeback.

“We have to separate them,” Papaprodromou said.

Chances are high that Papaprodromou will have a runner in the next major sprint stakes in Southern California – the Grade 3 Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on April 22. The Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes, a $200,000 race at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on May 27, is another long-term goal for the stable.

Spirit of Makena, who races for owner and breeder Bruce Chandler, stalked pacesetter Forbidden Kingdom to early stretch in the $200,500 San Carlos Stakes before pulling clear to win by 1 1/2 lengths.

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“He ran a huge race,” Papaprodromou said.

Spirit of Makena has won 3 of 4 starts and earned $227,600. By Ghostzapper, Spirit of Makena won his debut at Del Mar at 41-1 last summer in a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs and was second in an allowance race at a mile last September in his final start of the year.

In his 2023 debut on Feb. 11, Spirit of Makena won an allowance race at six furlongs, disputing the pace throughout. Spirit of Makena won the San Carlos Stakes despite undergoing treatment for a quarter crack that flared up after the allowance race win.

Forbidden Kingdom was the 9-5 favorite in the San Carlos for trainer Richard Mandella, who realized in the minutes before the race that his colt had a formidable rival in Spirit of Makena.

“The winner is some kind of horse,” Mandella said. “He walked by me on the way to the paddock, and I was shocked at how big and strong he was.”

Papaprodromou has a likely stakes runner on turf with Opry in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on April 8.

Opry was under consideration for the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup at two miles at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates on March 25, but was not sent to the Middle East because of complications related to deadlines for an equine vaccination booster shot, Papaprodromou said.

Opry was third in the Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Feb. 5.

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