A competitive group of 10 dashers, headed by Wayne Sanders
& Larry Hirsch’s Chief of Affairs, has been assembled for Saturday’s
$100,000 Arlington Sprint, a 5 ½-furlong turf race that will go as the 8th
of 10 races on the July 16 program.
A son of Yonaguska, Chief of Affairs moves to the turf after
finishing second as the 7-5 favorite in the $100,000 Karl Boyes Memorial
Northwestern Pennsylvania Stakes at Presque Isle Downs in his last start June
22. Earlier this year, the 5-year-old gelding won the $75,000 Hot Springs
Stakes at Oaklawn Park and then finished third in the Grade III Count Fleet
Handicap at the Arkansas oval. Trained by Bret Calhoun, who saddled
Chamberlain Bridge to win the 2010 edition of this race as well as the Grade II
Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs last November, Chief of Affairs
will be ridden by Jesus Castanon.
Late Night Stables’ Birdie Beats Par seeks his second
straight victory after wiring a second-level allowance going five furlongs over
the Churchill Downs lawn on June 10. Trained by Tom Amoss, the 3-year-old
Aragorn gelding is five for five in the money this year with three victories at
three different tracks in his last four trips to post. James Graham picks
up the mount.
Richard, Bertram & Elaine Klein’s Country Day returns
from an eight-month layoff. The Steve Margolis charge won the 2010 Hot
Springs at Oaklawn and that year’s Boyes Memorial at Presque Isle as well as a
tough allowance turf sprint in his last race before the layoff. Shaun
Bridgmohan has the mount on the 5-year-old son of Speightstown.
Encore Racing Stable and Ginger Haas’ Yankee Injunity, the
2009 Arlington Sprint victor, turns back to a sprint distance after finishing
sixth in a $100,000 stakes race at Indiana Downs. The Jim McMullen
trainee will be ridden by E. T. Baird, who was aboard the son of Yankee Victor
for his 2009 Sprint tally.
Others in the race (with riders listed) include: Harold
Queen & Gene Gilmore’s Capitol Appeal (Ronnie Allen Jr.), winner of a
third-level allowance at Presque Isle; Silverton Hill’s Havelock (Jermaine
Bridgmohan), third in the Grade III Hanshin Cup earlier this meet; Wildcat
Thoroughbred’s Homeboykris (Seth Martinez), runner-up in a five-furlong
Polytrack race last out; Patrick Scanlon’s Jr’s Exchange (Eduardo Perez), a
three-time turf dash winner at Tampa Bay Downs this winter; Clement, Flood,
Hoagland & McCarty’s Threeforall (Aldo Canchano), a winner of a Churchill
Downs turf sprint in May; and Mary Jean Bonfili’s Wekiva Wachee (Jozbin
Santana), victor in a second-level allowance at Tampa Bay in April.