The promising Honor A. P. in spotlight for second start

ARCADIA, Calif. – Honor A. P. finished with such interest in a maiden special weight race for sprinters at Del Mar on Aug. 17 that he quickly drew attention as a 2-year-old to follow.

Sunday at Santa Anita, Honor A. P. will be favored to justify the hype when he starts in a maiden race at a mile against nine rivals.

Trained by John Shirreffs for Lee and Susan Searing’s CRK Stable, Honor A. P. will be ridden by Mike Smith, who was aboard on Aug. 17. Honor A. P. finished 2 1/2 lengths behind Ginobili, who has since finished fourth in two stakes – the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on dirt on Sept. 2 and the Speakeasy Stakes at five furlongs on turf on Oct. 6.

Honor A. P., by Honor Code, impressed Shirreffs with how he finished, closing from 10th in the final quarter mile.

“He hasn’t been two turns, but you hope he can,” Shirreffs said. “When he found his stride, he got into gear and finished well.”

Honor A. P. will start from post 3. The competition is led by Defense Wins, who was third in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 2 and sixth in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Sept. 27, won by Eight Rings.

Trainer Bob Baffert starts Eel Point, who was fourth by 10 lengths behind Great Power in a maiden special weight race at 6 1/2 furlongs on Sept. 29 in his debut.

BC Juvenile contenders work

American Theorem and Storm the Court, second and third to Eight Rings in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes here on Sept. 27, remain on schedule for a start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 after each worked five furlongs on Friday.

American Theorem was timed in 1:01.60, working in company with a stablemate. The exercise began slower than trainer George Papaprodromou would have preferred, but American Theorem finished well under jockey Tiago Pereira, who did not strongly urge his mount.

The workout was the first for American Theorem since he finished six lengths behind Eight Rings in the American Pharoah Stakes, which at 1 1/16 miles is the same distance as the BC Juvenile.

“He probably galloped out in 1:15,” Papaprodromou said. “He wanted to go. If he’d let him go, he could have gone in a minute, and I didn’t want that.”

American Theorem began about three lengths behind stablemate Knifes Edge, who worked a half-mile in 49.40 seconds. Papaprodromou had hoped for a larger gap between the two runners at the start of the workout.

“They walked the first part,” Papaprodromou said.

Storm the Court, who was beaten 8 3/4 lengths by Eight Rings in the American Pharoah Stakes, was timed in 59.80 seconds while working alone, the fastest of 24 works at the distance. Trainer Peter Eurton timed Storm the Court in a minute.

The American Pharoah Stakes was Storm the Court’s first completed stakes race. In the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 2, Storm the Court unseated jockey Flavien Prat in a two-horse incident after Eight Rings drifted sharply toward the inside rail a furlong into the race. Eight Rings unseated jockey Drayden Van Dyke in the incident.

Eight Rings is rated as a top contender for the BC Juvenile, a race that plays a pivotal role in the year-end voting for 2-yearold champion.

In other notable works on Friday, the six-time stakes winner Bellafina worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 for the BC Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 2, while Landeskog, who finished second in the Grade 2 Gallant Bob Stakes for 3-yearold sprinters at Parx Racing on Sept. 21, worked a half-mile in 47.80 seconds for the BC Sprint on Nov. 2.

Columbus Day racing

There is racing scheduled for Monday, Columbus Day, although there is no stakes on the program.

Next week, there will be a three-day racing week from Friday through Sunday, with the week highlighted by Saturday’s $100,000 California Flag Handicap for statebreds at 5 1/2 furlongs. The next graded stakes at Santa Anita is the Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes at a mile on turf for 3-year-old fillies on Oct. 26.

◗ The California Horse Racing Board has canceled its monthly meeting at Santa Anita on Oct. 24 because of a lack of available members on that day, according to a statement released by the racing board on Thursday.

The board will conduct its next meeting at Del Mar on Nov. 21. One of the subjects will be the license application for the Santa Anita winterspring meeting, which begins on Dec. 26. The license application details such elements as racing days and the stakes schedule for the marathon meeting, which will last until late June.