Photo:
Santa Anita / Benoit Photo
Straight No Chaser and Hall of Fame jockey John Velázquez
rolled to a dominant, front-running victory Sunday in the six-furlong, Grade 2,
$200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship.
Trained by Dan Blacker, Straight No Chaser (3-2) was
quickest out of the gate and proceeded to set fractions of 21.83 and 44.28
seconds for the opening half-mile. Once he reached the stretch, Straight No
Chaser burst away from the field and crossed the wire with a time of 1:08.54 to
win by 6 1/4 lengths.
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Roll On Big Joe (21-1) with Umberto Rispoli up finished a
distant second, and See Through It (13-1) ridden by Tiago Pereira rounded out
the trifecta.
“Sizzling home!”
#5 STRAIGHT NO CHASER storms home in the $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G2), romping clear of #4 Roll On Big Joe in 1:08.54. Dan Blacker trains the @MyRacehorse son of Speightster, who was ridden by @ljlmvel. pic.twitter.com/BvyXnyx87T
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) September 30, 2024
“He was ready from the start,” Velázquez said. “If he breaks
good and (gets) loose reins, that’s what he likes. He relaxes until somebody
gets next to him. … I just had to put my hands down and let him do what he
needs to do.”
“They were running,” Blacker said. “He broke really quick
today, and when I saw him going into the turn, how easy he was going, and we
were in the right spot, I felt pretty confident.”
Fort Bragg (3-2), who was coming off a 10-month layoff, went
off with $414 more in the win pool than Straight No Chaser to be the slight
favorite. He made a three-wide bid on the turn under Juan Hernández but
flattened out in the stretch to finish fourth.
Owned by My Racehorse, Straight No Chaser improved to 9:
5-0-1 with $376,300 in earnings. In his only previous start this year in May,
the 4-year-old Speightster horse stumbled at the break in the Runhappy (G3) going
six furlongs at Aqueduct and finished fourth. His only previous stakes win came
in last year’s Maryland Sprint (G3) at Pimlico on the Preakness undercard.
Straight No Chaser paid $5.00, $3.60 and $3.00. Roll On Big
Joe, trained by Robert Hess Jr., returned $10.80 and $6.20. See Through It,
trained by Genaro Vallejo, paid $5.00.
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