Trio of SA Sprint Championship contenders work over weekend

Save for the margin of a scant nose, there could be three

Breeders' Cup winners running in next Saturday's Grade

1, $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship,

a "Win & You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Sprint, going six furlongs.

They would be Goldencents, last year's Dirt Mile winner;

Secret Circle, last year's Sprint winner; and Merit Man, who missed by a nose of

winning the defunct Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint in 2012.

Trainer

Bob Hess Jr. said he plans to enter Merit Man in Saturday's race, marking the

Florida-bred son of With Distinction's first start since winning the

five-furlong Green Flash at Del Mar

on August 13.

"Merit Man is by no means a good work horse, but he's

working well for Kent (Desormeaux, who has ridden the bay colt in his last four

starts)," said Hess, who has enjoyed remarkable success with the 44-year-old

Hall of Fame jockey dating back to the 1990s.

"Merit Man worked (Sunday going five furlongs in :59 2/5). He went well and

we're set for the race," Hess noted. "I want to see if he's good enough to

compete in the Breeders' Cup. We'll learn that on Saturday."

Hess and Desormeaux were virtually unbeatable together at

the recent Del Mar meet.

"Kent won on 14 of the 15 races we won there," Hess

said. "Victor (Espinoza) won one for us. I pretty much only rode Kent.

"There's always been kind of a natural respect and a bit of chemistry. It

doesn't always work out, but it worked out at Del Mar. I think we can keep this

going -- not to that level, necessarily, but we can keep it going and be

consistent throughout the rest of the year."

Secret Circle also took to the track on Sunday for the Santa Anita Sprint

Championship, covering five furlongs in a bullet :59 for Bob Baffert, fastest of 83 drills at the distance.

Goldencents logged five-eighths in :59 3/5 on Saturday at Santa Anita for the

race.

In other Santa Anita Sprint Championship news, Irish-bred Rich Tapestry landed at LAX

on Saturday for the

race. The six-year-old Holy Roman Emperor gelding trained by

Michael Chang has not raced since April 27 when he was eighth by five lengths at Sha Tin in Hong Kong.

Winner of six of 26 starts, Rich Tapestry will be stabled

at trainer Leonard Powell's barn at Santa Anita, then return overseas after

Saturday's race for the Hong Kong International Sprint in December, according to

Cindy Niemetz, West Coast representative of the International Racing Bureau Ltd.

Niemetz said Rich Tapestry is the first horse from Hong

Kong ever to run in the United States. Jockey Olivier Doleuze has the mount on Saturday.

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