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Air Force Red Cuts Back In Distance & Heads Sunday’s $100,000 Siren Lure Stakes
4/20/2023
AIR FORCE RED CUTS BACK IN DISTANCE & HEADS SUNDAY’S $100,000 SIREN LURE STAKES AT 6 ½ FURLONGS DOWN CAMINO REAL HILLSIDE TURF COURSE
HERNANDEZ & POWELL TEAM WITH COURSE SPECIALIST WHO’S WON 3 OF 4 HILLSIDE STARTS
ARCADIA, CA (April 20, 2023)—A close fifth in the Grade I Frank E. Kilroe Mile in his first start, trainer Leonard Powell’s Air Force Red returns to a game he adores in Sunday’s $100,000 Siren Lure Stakes at Santa Anita, as he heads a field of xx older horses going about 6 ½ furlongs down Santa Anita’s one-of-a-kind hillside turf course.
Beaten just 1 ¾ lengths after showing the way early in the grassy Kilroe, Air Force Red pressed the pace and finished third, beaten a neck two starts back at the same trip in the Grade III Thunder Road Stakes here on Feb. 4. An impressive gate to wire winner down the hill three starts back in the Grade II Joe Hernandez Stakes Dec. 31, this 5-year-old ridgling by Air Force Blue has three wins from four tries over the course and should be tough to deny on Sunday.
Owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Holly Golightly, Air Force Red has five wins from 12 overall starts, good for earnings of $376,140.
Third, beaten a head over the course by perhaps the best California-bred in training, The Chosen Vron, in the statebred Sensational Star Stakes March 19, Peter Miller’s hard-hitting 6-year-old gelding Indian Peak need only run back to his most recent start to be a factor in open company Sunday.
Ridden by Juan Hernandez at 8-1 in the Sensational Star, Indian Peak will hope to get clear sailing under Ramon Vazquez in the Siren Lure as he seeks his second stakes win down the hill in what will be his fifth try.
By Comic Strip, Indian Peak, who has proven versatile on all surfaces both routing and sprinting, is owned by Wachtel Stable and Gary Barber. The leading money earner in the field with $443,122, Indian Peak, a two-time stakes winner, is 29-6-5-3 overall.
An upset winner of the Grade II Eddie D Stakes over the course four starts back on Oct. 1, a race in which he defeated Air Force Red by 1 ¼ lengths, Mark Glatt’s Whatmakessammyrun, most recently fourth, beaten 3 ¼ lengths down the hill in the Grade III San Simeon Stakes March 5, will again be ridden by Joe Bravo and will hope to tag the speed late in what will be his fourth hillside start dating back to the Eddie D.
A 5-year-old gelding by the Artie Schiller stallion We Miss Artie, Whatmakessammyrun began his career in New York at age two and is owned by Sterling Stables. In addition to the Eddie D, his other stakes win came at six furlongs out of Santa Anita’s turf chute in the ungraded Desert Code at age three on June 6, 2021. With an overall mark of 18-4-3-2, he has earnings of $331,070.
A sharp horse on dirt, trainer Librado Barocio’s Sunrise Journey, claimed three starts back for $20,000 out of a statebred allowance Feb. 20, has posted lofty Beyer Speed Figures of 92 and 93 in a pair of sprints wins at six furlongs April 7 and March 12.
Well beaten down the hill by The Chosen Vron in the 2022 California Flag Stakes six starts back, Sunrise Journey, an 8-year-old gelding by Good Journey appears at the absolute top of his game and figures to be gunned to the lead by regular rider Edwin Maldonado.
Owned by Mia Familia Racing Stable and Dudley Ward, Sunrise Journey is 44-15-8-6 with earnings of $387,396.
Although a disappointing eighth and last in a statebred stakes going six furlongs on synthetic Tapeta at Golden Gate Fields Feb. 18, Dan Blacker’s Burnin Turf likely needed the race as he’d been idle since running third, beaten one length down the hill in the Grade III Daytona Stakes two starts back on May 29, 2022. He should rebound with a big effort over a course on which he registered consecutive allowance wins on March 5 and April 9 of last year.
Owned by Next Wave Racing, LLC and the Ellwood Johnston Trust, Burnin Turf was bred in California by the Johnston family’s Old English Rancho. A 7-year-old gelding by Acclamation out of the Vronsky mare Hot Outta the Oven, Burnin Turf is 14-5-0-5 with earnings of $268,596.
SUNDAY’S SIREN LURE STAKES WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER
Race 3 of 10 Approximate post time 2 p.m. PT
- Air Force Red—Juan Hernandez—124
- Whatmakessammyrun—Joe Bravo—124
- Indian Peak—Ramon Vazquez—124
- Sunrise Journey—Edwin Maldonado—124
- Burnin Turf—Umberto Rispoli--122
First post time for a 10-race card on Sunday is at 1 p.m. with admission gates opening at 11 a.m.