Thor's Echo top two a study in contrasts

ARCADIA, Calif. – Most everything bettors need to know about Colt Fiction and trainer Bill Spawr is summarized by an observation from Spawr after the sprinter’s latest work.

Colt Fiction worked five furlongs in a dawdling 1:05.60, but Spawr claims the time is off.

“He didn’t go that fast, really,” Spawr said straight-faced. “He went 1:06. We work him slow, let him finish, and it makes him happy. He’s a better horse when he works slow.”

How much better is the issue Saturday at Santa Anita, where Colt Fiction seeks his third straight win while making his stakes debut in the $100,000 Thor’s Echo for California-bred sprinters. The race offers a stark contrast between controlled speed, and the exact opposite.

Brickyard Ride employed blazing heat to win two stakes early this meet, and though he has lost twice since he continues to sizzle in the morning. A day before Colt Fiction’s slow work, Brickyard Ride smoked five furlongs in 58 seconds with new rider Juan Hernandez.

“Juan said he was very tough, and could not get him slowed down,” trainer Craig Lewis said. “I told Juan that he’s going to do that in the race – just let him run.”

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Colt Fiction and Brickyard Ride enter the six-furlong Thor’s Echo as top contenders, both with new riders. Hernandez replaces Alexis Centeno on Brickyard Ride; Umberto Rispoli picks up Colt Fiction as regular rider Tiago Pereira stays with multiple stakes winner Fashionably Fast.

The field for the Thor’s Echo, race 8, also includes Whooping Jay, Jamming Eddy, and Loud Mouth.

Beyond workout and running style, Colt Fiction illustrates fluctuating form. Colt Fiction, a pace-presser, previously was an incorrigible run-off. But that was before owners Jay and Julie Manoogian transferred him to Spawr, who is his third trainer.

Colt Fiction was vanned off the Los Alamitos track after his third-place debut in 2018. When he returned in 2019 for his second trainer, he was uncontrollable. One morning at Los Alamitos, he smoked five furlongs from the gate in 56.60. He paid the price. After one more work, he was sidelined again. His owners discussed cutting their losses.

Spawr believed Colt Fiction had potential.

“I said, I’ll take him,” Spawr said. “We talked them into not giving up.”

Colt Fiction was a 5-year-old maiden with one race when he made his first start for Spawr in summer 2020. He was learning how to be a racehorse.

Over the next year, Colt Fiction improved race by race and enters the Thor’s Echo having won 5 of 9 for Spawr.

“He’s having fun because he isn’t working so fast, he’s more controllable,” Spawr said. “He’s not getting out any more. Instead of running off and out of control, he’s going straight.”

It was evident in his most recent start, when Colt Fiction saved ground, cut the corner, and spurted clear to win going away. The challenge Saturday is to continue his upward pattern. The challenge for Brickyard Ride is to reverse his declining form.

Brickyard Ride emerged as a sprint leader winning back-to-back stakes this meet – the California Cup Sprint in January and Grade 2 San Carlos in March. But he was run into the ground by kamikaze pace rivals in his two most recent starts, losing both as the odds-on favorite.

The scenario changes Saturday, because none of Brickyard Ride’s rivals are as quick. Brickyard Ride should set the pace, and could be gone. Based on his 58-flat work under new rider Hernandez, the 4-year-old is as fast as ever. Fast in the morning, at least.

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Lewis explained the jockey change to Hernandez. “Alexis [Centeno] is a talented young apprentice, but Juan has a lot more experience and wins a lot of races. I just wanted to try Juan here.”

Hernandez entered the week as the meet’s second-leading rider, with 83 wins.

Brickyard Ride has won seven races and $404,477 from 15 starts for owner-breeder Alfred Pais. Meanwhile, the most accomplished Thor’s Echo entrant is 6-year-old veteran Fashionably Fast.

From late 2019 through summer 2020, Fashionably Fast was a top older California-bred male, with four successive stakes wins at Fresno, Del Mar, and Santa Anita. Since returning this year, he has a statebred stakes win at a mile, and three thirds for trainer Dean Pederson.

With eight wins and $590,661 in earnings from 22 starts, Fashionably Fast is arguably the class of the field. The question is whether he can be as effective at six furlongs, or if age is catching up. With seven weeks between starts, Fashionably Fast should fire first start back.

Whooping Jay scored a sharp allowance win in his comeback for Doug O’Neill, who trained the horse the Saturday stakes is named for – 2006 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Thor’s Echo.