'Amigos,' 'Passion' Meet in Midnight Lute

Multiple grade III winners Salutos Amigos and Distinctiv Passion will seek another grade III score Jan. 2 in the $100,000 Midnight Lute Stakes at Santa Anita Park, one of three graded events on the Saturday card.



The two are the only graded winners in the field of seven for the 6 1/2-furlong dirt sprint, but their most recent graded scores came early in 2015.



Salutos Amigos earned his last graded score in the Tom Fool Handicap (gr. III) last March at Aqueduct Racetrack, but the Salute the Sarge gelding has shown he is capable of firing a big race since. Before back-to-back fifth-place finishes in the TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) and the Fall Highweight Handicap (gr. III), the David Jacobson trainee was just a neck behind Rock Fall in the Vosburgh Stakes (gr. I) Sept. 26 at Belmont Park. In his first West Coast start since a seventh-place run in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Sprint, Salutos Amigos will be ridden by Martin Garcia from the outside post. The gelding has a 1-0-1 record from seven starts at Santa Anita, dating back to 2012, when he was trained by Eric Guillot. 

The speedy Distinctiv Passion, a 6-year-old son of With Distinction trained by Jeff Bonde, took the Los Angeles Stakes (gr. III) at Santa Anita in May, but finished fifth in two dirt starts since—the Bing Crosby (gr. I) and Santa Anita Sprint Championship (gr. I)—and came in second sprinting over the Del Mar turf in the Green Flash Handicap.



The two graded winners bring ample back class, but two wildcards on winning streaks could be live options in their stakes debuts.



Lightly raced Seattle Serenade jumps off the page as a $1 million purchase at Keeneland September in 2013, as does his 6 1/4-length victory Dec. 11 in an allowance/optional claimer at Los Alamitos Race Course. The victory was only the second start of the Smart Strike colt's career, after breaking his maiden in his debut at Del Mar in November for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.



All Run brings in a three-race win streak at allowance levels for trainer Richard Baltas. Since moving to the Baltas barn in August, the Flower Alley gelding is three-for-three and has won the dirt sprints by a combined 12 lengths.



Graded stakes-placed San Onofre, stakes winner Raised a Secret, and allowance victor Pulling G's complete the field.