Santa Anita notes: Great Warrior to Triple Bend

ARCADIA, Calif. - Great Warrior, the winner of an optional claimer for sprinters in a 25-1 upset at Santa Anita on Thursday, will be pointed for the $250,000 Triple Bend Handicap at Hollywood Park on June 30.Unraced since finishing 12th in the Grade 2 Oak Tree Derby last October, Great Warrior, 4, was ridden by Omar Berrio, his first winner since Great Warrior won the Pomona Derby at Fairplex Park last September.

Berrio works primarily as an exercise rider for A.C. Avila, who trains Great Warrior. Thursday's race was his ninth mount of 2012.

In Thursday's race, Great Warrior rallied from sixth in a field of seven to win by a half-length over Saddleranch. "He was the best horse in the field," Avila said.
Great Warrior has won 3 of 13 starts and $136,706.

* Jockey Alex Solis rides at Santa Anita on Sunday for the first time since December 2010.

Solis, 48, ranks sixth on the list of all-time leading riders at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting in stakes wins (151) and career wins (1,354). Sunday, he rides Eagle Poise in the San Juan Capistrano Handicap, a race he has won three times.