Breeders' Cup Berth on Line in SA Sprint Championship

After winning the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) the past two years with Collusion Illusion  and Dr. Schivel , trainer Mark Glatt has his eyes on another six-furlong prize in California, this time Oct. 2 at Santa Anita Park.

Glatt runs his two Bing Crosby victors in the $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G2), which serves as a "Win and You're In" qualifier for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 6 at Del Mar. It is the eighth of 11 races on a stakes-packed card.

For either to win, they must defeat the race's defending champion, Altamira Racing Stable, Madaket Stables, Gary Barber, and Tom Kagele's C Z Rocket , and three other sprinters. 

The younger of Glatt's duo, Dr. Schivel, is a 3-year-old son of Violence  . He is perfect in four starts over the past 14 months, recording three victories at Del Mar and the other at Santa Anita. His score in the Bing Crosby came in a blanket finish July 31, in which he defeated C Z Rocket, who settled for third. The Bing Crosby was an earlier Breeders' Cup Sprint qualifier.

While C Z Rocket subsequently raced in the seven-furlong Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) Aug. 28, Dr. Schivel stayed in Glatt's barn to await the Santa Anita Sprint Championship. The colt, 3-for-3 at six furlongs, races for Red Baron's Barn, Rancho Temescal, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, and William Branch, who bred him with Arnold Hill.

Branch and Hill initially raced him with trainer Luis Mendez before the other partners joined in ownership ahead of a win in the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity (G1) last year.  His two starts this year have come for Glatt.

Flavien Prat returns aboard on the rail-drawn Dr. Schivel.

Collusion Illusion isn't on the same roll, losing his four starts since his Bing Crosby triumph in 2020. However, two of those losses resulted in graded stakes-placings, and a recent seventh-place finish in the Green Flash Handicap (G3T) Aug. 22 at Del Mar was a comeback in a five-furlong turf sprint.

The Dan Agnew, Jerry Schneider, Rodney Orr, and MyRacehorse-owned 4-year-old races with blinkers for the first time. The Twirling Candy   colt starts from the outside post in the field of six under Juan Hernandez.

"Hopefully we're on to the Breeders' Cup with both horses out of that race," Glatt said of the Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

Other entrants include three-time stakes winner Vertical Threat —dangerous as the likely pacesetter—last-out optional claiming winner Colt Fiction , and millionaire Flagstaff .

Flagstaff, a 7-year-old gelding owned by Lane's End Racing and Hronis Racing, won the Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford (G1) this spring. He then was second to Firenze Fire  in the June 4 True North Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park before a third in the Pat O'Brien. 

When C Z Rocket won the Santa Anita Sprint Championship last fall, Flagstaff was also behind the Peter Miller-trained rival, though later disqualified to fifth for a bisphosphonate positive. Four times since August of 2020, Flagstaff has finished behind that foe, thrice by a margin of a half-length or less. Flagstaff carries top weight Saturday of 126 pounds.

"We'll probably run him in the Sprint Championship and then the Breeders' Cup," trainer John Sadler said of Flagstaff. "He won't race at 8. We'll call it a career."

Entries: Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. (G2)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, October 02, 2021, Race 8

• Grade II
• 6f
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 4:06 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Dr. Schivel (KY)	Flavien Prat	122	Mark Glatt	2/1
2	2Vertical Threat (KY)	Abel Cedillo	122	Richard Baltas	6/1
3	3Colt Fiction (CA)	Geovanni Franco	122	William Spawr	8/1
4	4C Z Rocket (FL)	Florent Geroux	124	Peter Miller	5/2
5	5Flagstaff (KY)	Joe Bravo	126	John W. Sadler	7/2
6	6Collusion Illusion (FL)	Juan J. Hernandez	122	Mark Glatt	4/1