Goldencents, Trinniberg square off in Sprint; Obviously tops City of Hope

Goldencents, Trinniberg square off in Sprint; Obviously

tops City of Hope

Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000

Santa Anita

Sprint Championship shapes up to be an important prep race for the Breeders'

Cup Sprint four weeks later. Trinniberg will tune up for his title defense and

Grade 1 winner Goldencents can make a serious case for favoritism with a victory

in the six-furlong feature.

Earlier on the program, Obviously will make his final appearance before the

Breeders' Cup Mile when he lines up against eight challengers in the Grade 2,

$150,000

City of Hope Mile. The Mike Mitchell-trained gelding exits a series of

victories in the Del Mar Mile, Shoemaker Mile and American Handicap.

Trinniberg earned the Eclipse Award for champion sprinter by virtue of his

win in the 2012 Breeders' Cup Sprint but has dropped all three starts since then

for trainer Bisnath Parboo, finishing second most recently in the July 6 Smile

Sprint Handicap at Calder. The Florida-based colt shipped to Santa Anita a

couple of weeks earlier to prepare, recording a pair of works over the local

oval, and will receive a rider switch to Jose Valdivia.

Goldencents registered his biggest career victory over the track, taking the

Santa Anita Derby in early April, and ran well when cutting back to sprints on

Del Mar's Polytrack, finishing a close second in both the Bing Crosby and Pat

O'Brien. The Doug O'Neill-trained three-year-old figures to appreciate the

switch back to dirt and adds leading rider Rafael Bejarano to the saddle.

The eight-horse field also contains Bing Crosby winner Points Offthebench and

Centralinteligence, who makes his first start since capturing the Grade 1 Triple

Bend in late June. Multiple stakes winner Distinctiv Passion will be the one to

catch. The three-year-old colt is two for two on the main track at Santa Anita,

including an impressive wire-to-wire tally in six-furlong San Pedro last winter,

and the speedster keeps Edwin Maldonado in the saddle.

Declassify returns from a four-month freshening and takes a bold step up in

class for Bob Baffert. An 11-length debut winner on April 6, the three-year-old

colt defeated entry-level allowance rivals by a 7 1/2-length margin on June 8.

Rosie Napravnik picks up the mount on the lightly-raced but talented son of

Orientate. Baffert is also responsible for Grade 3 scorer Roman Threat, who will

make second start of the year, and Bing Crosby third-placer Gonna Fly Now rounds

out the field.

In the City of Hope, Obviously figures to be an overwhelming favorite with

regular rider Joe Talamo. His main foes include Del Mar Mile runner-up He Be

Fire N Ice and Grade 2-placed Barocci, who exits a fifth in the Eddie Read.

The $100,000

L.A. Woman

is one of the four stakes on Saturday's card and the 6 1/2-furlong test could

produce at least a couple of starter for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

That's the plan for multiple Grade 1 heroine Executiveprivilege, who will make

only her second start of 2013. The filly posted a respectable runner-up finish

to Reneesgotzip when returning in a stakes-quality allowance at Del Mar on July

18 and will likely go favored for Baffert.

Grade 1 winner Teddy's Promise also figures to attract support following her

runner-up in the A Gleam Handicap and Grade 2 queen Great Hot is a seasoned

veteran at this level. Socialbug will spotting her rivals plenty of experience,

making her stakes debut in only her third career start, but the undefeated

half-sister to Midnight Lute looked very promising in her two starts at Del Mar.

The $70,000

Swingtime

kicks off the stakes action with a field of seven fillies and mares at a mile on

turf. Customer Base and Miss Pippa are among leading contenders.

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