Tripoli preps on turf for major dirt stakes

Before he won the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on dirt at Del Mar last August, Tripoli was an established turf runner with two wins in 11 starts on the surface.

Tripoli returns to turf, at least for one race, when he will have his 2022 debut in Sunday’s Grade 3 American Stakes at a mile at Santa Anita.

Trainer John Sadler and owners Hronis Racing plan to start Tripoli in the major dirt stakes of the Del Mar summer meeting, the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 30 and the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic on Sept. 3.

“He showed himself better on dirt, but he can run on grass,” Sadler said on Friday. “This will be a chance to get a race into him.”

Tripoli is part of a field of 10 in the $100,000 American Stakes, the last of 11 races on the closing day of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting. The American Stakes is the final race of a 20-cent Rainbow pick six that has a mandatory payout.

Following Sunday’s card, there is no live Thoroughbred racing in Southern California until the start of the three-week Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos on June 25.

The American Stakes field includes Vanzzy, who was second in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields on April 30; Hong Kong Harry, unbeaten in two allowance races since arriving from the United Kingdom last winter; and Majestic Eagle and Restrainedvengence, who won the 2019 and 2021 runnings of the American Stakes.

Tripoli has not raced since finishing seventh of eight in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar last November. Later in the fall, Tripoli underwent surgery to have a bone chip removed from a knee.

“I’m anxious to get him started,” Sadler said. “He’s doing super.”

Tiago Pereira, who rode Tripoli in the Pacific Classic and four other races last year, regains the mount. Irad Ortiz Jr. rode Tripoli in the BC Classic.

Tripoli tends to race as a stalker and should be in pursuit of likely leader Kentucky Pharoah, the winner of the Dania Beach Stakes at a mile on turf at Gulfstream Park in January 2021. Kentucky Pharoah was supplemented to the American Stakes for $2,000.

Kentucky Pharoah is trained by Jack Sisterson, who is relocating a stable from Kentucky to California this summer,

Vanzzy closed from seventh of 14 to finish a half-length behind Evening Sun in the San Francisco Mile. Vanzzy has since been transferred from trainer Richard Baltas to Dan Blacker after Baltas was informed by Santa Anita management in May that he could no longer start horses at the track because of an alleged medication violation.

“He came into my barn in decent shape and he’s thrived over the last month,” Blacker said. “His last two works have been super.

“I’m hoping we won’t be too far back.”

Hong Kong Harry is another threat from off the pace. Hong Kong Harry was held out of the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on May 30 because of a quarter crack, which is no longer an issue, trainer Phil D’Amato said.

“It was a simple fix,” D’Amato said.

Hong Kong Harry is a threat as a stalker.

Possibly Perfect Stakes

At the beginning of the year, there were four distance stakes on turf at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that fit the 5-year-old mare Neige Blanche. So far, the schedule has gone to plan.

On Sunday, Neige Blanche will be favored to win her third stakes of the year in the $100,000 Possibly Perfect Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf for fillies and mares.

Trained by Leonard Powell, Neige Blanche won two Grade 3 stakes at 1 1/2 miles earlier this year – the Astra in January and Santa Barbara Stakes on May 14. In between, she was third in the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes at 1 1/4 miles.

“The couple of times she got beat at a mile and quarter, she didn’t have the best trip,” he said. “She was too far back and had a lot to do at the end.”

In the Santa Barbara Stakes, Neige Blanche closed from fourth in a field of five to win by a length.

“Last time, she showed she can be placed more forwardly,” Powell said.

Neige Blanche is part of a field of seven in the Possibly Perfect.

The Possibly Perfect will be the California debut for Scarabea, who was fourth going 1 1/2 miles on turf at Gulfstream in the Grade 3 La Prevoyante in January and fifth under the same conditions in the Grade 3 Orchid in April.