Saratoga: Trinniberg works for King’s Bishop

Trinniberg, one of the top-rated 3-year-old sprinters in the country, tuned up for his role as the potential favorite in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop here later this month with an easy half-mile breeze in 49.49 seconds over the Oklahoma training track Friday.

Trinniberg had regular rider Willie Martinez aboard for the work. Martinez was in town Friday to ride It’s Me Mom in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss later that afternoon.

Trinniberg has won three graded stakes this season, including two in New York – the Grade 3 Bay Shore at Aqueduct on April 7 and the Grade 2 Woody Stephens at Belmont on June 9. All three of his graded stakes victories have come at the same seven-furlong distance as the King’s Bishop.

Owner Shivananda Parbhoo and his father, trainer Bisnath Parboo, had originally planned on prepping Trinniberg for the King’s Bishop in the 6 1/2-furlong Amsterdam here last week. But they made a late change in their speedster’s itinerary, opting to stay at home and run in Calder’s Grade 3 Carry Back at six furlongs on July 7, only to be upset as the 1-5 favorite by Fort Loudon.

“I told Willie to just take it easy with him, to go in 49, even 50 would be fine with this being his first work since his last race,” Parbhoo said. “His next breeze will be on the main track next Saturday, and it will be a really better move.”

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Parbhoo said they hadn’t really prepared Trinniberg for his best effort in the Carry Back, and he believed that was the reason his horse tired just a bit at the end to drop a neck decision following a stirring stretch-long drive with Fort Loudon.

“We never gave him a good breeze before the race, he went a half in 51 and wasn’t prepared for it at all,” Parbhoo said. “We just decided to run there at the last minute, because it was a short field. We wanted to help them make the race go, and it is our home track.”

Trinniberg is expected to meet Currency Swap in what would be a rubber match between the two fleet 3-year-olds in the King’s Bishop. Currency Swap beat Trinniberg here last summer in the Grade 1 Hopeful, with Trinniberg turning the tables in the Woody Stephens.