STRAIGHT NO CHASER, FORT BRAGG HEADLINE SUNDAY’S GII, $200,000 SANTA ANITA SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY ESTRELLA JALISCO

ARCADIA, CA (Sept. 26, 2024)—Graded-stakes winners Straight No Chaser and Fort Bragg, each coming off a layoff, lead a field of seven entered in Sunday’s Grade II, $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship presented by Estrella Jalisco going six furlongs.

Straight No Chaser, winner of last year’s Grade III Maryland Sprint at Pimlico, will be making his first start in 4 ½ months for trainer Dan Blacker. When last seen on May 11, Santa Anita-based Straight No Chaser was at Aqueduct to contest the GIII Runhappy Stakes going six furlongs. Sent off the 3-5 favorite, Straight No Chaser stumbled at the start, was then hustled to the front and led inside the final furlong before getting overhauled and finishing fourth.

The Runhappy was Straight No Chaser’s first start after nearly a year layoff. The 5-year-old Speightster horse has worked five times since Aug. 25, which includes a bullet five-furlong drill in 59.80 seconds last Saturday. Owned by My Racehorse, Straight No Chaser is 8: 4-0-1 with $256,300 in earnings. He will be ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, who was also aboard for the Runhappy and the Maryland Sprint win.

Fort Bragg, trained by Bob Baffert, has been sidelined since finishing sixth in last December’s GI Malibu Stakes going seven furlongs at Santa Anita. The 4-year-old Tapit colt’s lone graded win came in last year’s GIII Dwyer Stakes going a mile at Belmont Park.

Owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables et al, Fort Bragg is 12: 3-2-3 with $414,800 in earnings. He finished third in last year’s Santa Anita Sprint Championship behind winner Dr. Schivel. Fort Bragg He will be ridden by Juan Hernandez.

For All Mankind makes his U.S. stakes debut for trainer John Sadler. On Aug. 10 at Del Mar, For All Mankind returned from a 15-month layoff and dominated an allowance field going 5 ½ furlongs on the main track. It was the 5-year-old Into Mischief gelding’s first start on dirt. All eight of his previous starts—one in the U.S. and seven in France—came on turf or synthetic.

Owned by Hronis Racing, For All Mankind is 9: 3-2-2 with $101,892 in earnings. He will be ridden by Hector Berrios for the first time.

THE GII SANTA ANITA SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 9 of 10 Approximate post time 5 p.m.

1. Fort Bragg – Juan Hernandez – 122
2. Mbagnick – Tyler Baze – 122
3. See Through It – Tiago Pereira – 122
4. Roll On Big Joe – Edwin Maldonado – 122
5. Straight No Chaser – John Velazquez – 122
6. Neiman – Armando Ayuso – 122
7. For All Mankind – Hector Berrios - 122

First post for a 10 race card Sunday is 1 p.m. Admission gates open at 11:00 a.m. For more information please visit www.santaanita.com.