Shancelot drills for Santa Anita Sprint Championship

ARCADIA, Calif. – The speedy 3-year-old Shancelot, the winner of the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga in July, worked a half-mile in 47.20 seconds on Sunday in advance of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Saturday.

Shancelot is rated as a leading contender for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint here on Nov. 2.

Sunday, Shancelot had his first workout at Santa Anita since arriving last Wednesday.

“I wanted to give him one [workout] over the track,” trainer Jorge Navarro said. “The main thing is to have him ready for the Breeders’ Cup.”

:: BREEDERS’ CUP 2019: See DRF’s top contenders

Shancelot has won 3 of 4 starts and earned $224,300. Owned by Ivan Rodriguez and Michelle and Albert Crawford, Shancelot won his first three races, including the Amsterdam Stakes at six furlongs on July 28, and was third by a head as the 3-10 favorite in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs at Saratoga on Aug. 24, leading to the final strides.

“Circumstances got us at Saratoga,” Navarro said. “The rail was very dead. We turned the page on that one.”

The $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship is run at six furlongs. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Sprint.

The Santa Anita Sprint Championship will not have a large field. Other candidates are Omaha Beach, the winner of the Grade 2 Arkansas Derby in April, and two runners trained by John Sadler – Flagstaff and Horse Greedy.

The Saturday program includes the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile on turf which is expected to have a competitive field led by Bolo, the winner of the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile here in May; Catapult, who was second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs last November; and Prince Earl, who won the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 18 in his first start of the year.

Other expected runners are Andesh, Kingly, Ohio, Restrainedvengence, and True Valour.

There are four other stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday and Sunday with ramifications for Breeders’ Cup races. Saturday’s Grade 3 LA Woman Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs is a prep to the BC Filly and Mare Sprint.

Sunday’s card has three $100,000 turf stakes for 2-year-olds – the Speakeasy Stakes at five furlongs, the Zuma Beach Stakes at a mile, and the Surfer Girl Stakes for fillies at a mile. The winner of the Speakeasy Stakes receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint on Nov. 1.