Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Papaprodromou has two top-shelf sprinters
California trainer George Papaprodromou will have a strong team of sprinters this spring, including a lightly raced 5-year-old who is unbeaten in two starts this year.
On Saturday at Santa Anita, Spirit of Makena won his stakes debut in the Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs in his fourth career start. The style of the win suggests that Spirit of Makena will have a presence in the circuit’s leading sprints in 2023.
The stable already has American Theorem, a multiple stakes winner who has not raced since an eighth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland in November. The winner of the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar last summer, American Theorem is in training for a comeback.
“We have to separate them,” Papaprodromou said.
Chances are high that Papaprodromou will have a runner in the next major sprint stakes in Southern California – the Grade 3 Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on April 22. The Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes, a $200,000 race at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on May 27, is another long-term goal for the stable.
Spirit of Makena, who races for owner and breeder Bruce Chandler, stalked pacesetter Forbidden Kingdom to early stretch in the $200,500 San Carlos Stakes before pulling clear to win by 1 1/2 lengths. He earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He ran a huge race,” Papaprodromou said.
Spirit of Makena has won 3 of 4 starts and earned $227,600. By Ghostzapper, Spirit of Makena won his debut at Del Mar at 41-1 last summer in a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs and was second in an allowance race at a mile last September in his final start of the year.
In his 2023 debut on Feb. 11, Spirit of Makena won an allowance race at six furlongs, disputing the pace throughout. Spirit of Makena won the San Carlos Stakes despite undergoing treatment for a quarter crack that flared up after the allowance race win.
Forbidden Kingdom was the 9-5 favorite in the San Carlos for trainer Richard Mandella, who realized in the minutes before the race that his colt had a formidable rival in Spirit of Makena.
“The winner is some kind of horse,” Mandella said. “He walked by me on the way to the paddock, and I was shocked at how big and strong he was.”
Papaprodromou has a likely stakes runner on turf with Opry in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on April 8.
Opry was under consideration for the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup at two miles at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates on March 25, but was not sent to the Middle East because of complications related to deadlines for an equine vaccination booster shot, Papaprodromou said.
Opry was third in the Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Feb. 5.
C Z Rocket arrives in Dubai
The veteran sprinter C Z Rocket arrived in Dubai on Monday for a scheduled start in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen Sprint at Meydan Racecourse on March 25, the 9-year-old gelding’s first trip abroad.
A winner of 12 of 36 starts, C Z Rocket was second in an allowance race at six furlongs at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 17 in his lone start this year and first since a second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland in November. C Z Rocket was second in 2020 BC Sprint at Keeneland and seventh in the 2021 BC Sprint at Del Mar.
Owned by Gary Barber, Madaket Stable, Tom Kagele, and Miller, C Z Rocket was considered for the Group 2 Godolphin Mile at Meydan on March 25, but Miller said the $2 million Golden Shaheen is preferred because of its sixfurlong distance and a purse twice as valuable as the $1 million Godolphin Mile.
“He might be better at” six furlongs, Miller said.
Miller said that Ginobili, the winner of the Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Jan. 14, has been turned out with an “undisclosed” injury and will not race again until autumn.
Ginobili was last of eight in the Grade 3 Razorback at 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 18. Ginobili had a half-mile workout at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in California earlier this month before he was taken out of training.