Straight No Chaser, the champion sprinter of 2024, is likely to have his first American start of the year in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Sept. 28, trainer Dan Blacker said on Thursday.
“It looks like that’s the target right now,” Blacker said.
Straight No Chaser won the Santa Anita Sprint Championship and Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar in consecutive starts last fall to clinch the championship. The BC Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 1 is another year-end goal.
“We’re trying to figure out the best path to that,” Blacker said.
Owned by the My Racehorse syndicate, Straight No Chaser has started twice this year. He won the Grade 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia in February, but was eight of 11 in the Grade 1 Golden Shaheen in Dubai on April 6.
On Thursday at Del Mar, Straight No Chaser worked a half-mile in 51.40 seconds, his third, and longest, workout since returning to serious training in recent months. Juan Landeros, Blacker’s assistant, was aboard Straight No Chaser, a 6-year-old horse.
“He just had a steady half-mile,” Blacker said. “It was his first half-mile back. Juan kept ahold of him the whole way.
“He has good energy and he’s showing more progress.”
The winner of the $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Sprint. With two months to that race, Blacker said there is ample time to have Straight No Chaser ready.
“I’d like to be ahead of schedule rather than behind,” he said. “It will give us an opportunity to skip a work here or there. That’s how we approached the Saudi race. It looked like it worked in his favor.”
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