Santa Anita: Tiz Dynamic in peak form for Sunday's feature

ARCADIA, Calif. – The weather will improve next week at Santa Anita. So will the quality of racing.

Before the storm passes and interest builds for an outstanding Big Cap program on March 8 featuring four graded stakes, Santa Anita on Sunday will offer a simple nine-race card in which the highlight is a first-level optional $40,000 claiming race.

The honest geldings Tiz Dynamic and Planet Sunshine are top contenders in the 1 1/8-mile route to be run over a main track that was sealed Thursday in advance of a wet weekend. Eight entered Sunday’s race-8 feature, including front-runner Seeking the West and surface-switcher Brother Pete.

While their recent records are similar, Tiz Dynamic and Planet Sunshine hail from completely different backgrounds. Tiz Dynamic was a $425,000 yearling purchase in 2010 who dropped all the way to $20,000 maiden claiming before he finally won.

Planet Sunshine started at the bottom and worked his way up. He began his career against $8,000 maiden-claiming company at Golden Gate, won his second start, and gradually worked his way up the ladder.

The 5-year-old Tiz Dynamic is in the best form of his career. Now trained by Richard Baltas, he won a $25,000 claiming race two starts back on dirt, and last out finished a close second in a starter allowance on turf. The horse who beat him by a nose, Te Rapa, previously won a second-level allowance.

In theory, Tiz Dynamic drops in class Sunday into a first-level allowance. Tiz Dynamic, 5 for 18, figures for a good trip tucked just off the speed.

Planet Sunshine was claimed for $50,000 from a narrow victory last out and will make his first start for Ted H. West. The trainer is rolling again after a dry 2013 during which he won 2 races from 46 starters. This year, West already has gone 3 for 11.

The likely pacesetter is Seeking the West, a front-running maiden winner two starts back followed by a solid runner-up finish in a fast-paced allowance. Ron Ellis trains the five-start Seeking the West, who could wire the field if able to shake away from Master Clip.

Brother Pete finished second in four successive allowance races on turf and will switch to dirt for the first time in his career.