Air Strike (Street Sense), dismissed at 12-1 while facing a tough enough bunch in the GII Triple Bend S., flew home to earn a first graded tally Saturday afternoon at Santa Anita. Cutting back after finishing fourth following a very wide journey in Lone Star's GIII Steve Sexton Mile Apr. 28, the bay colt dropped all the way back to last early as last-out GII Kona Gold S. romper Cistron (The Factor) showed the way. The frontrunner was still clear heading for home after a :44.53 half, but Air Strike began to slingshot past rivals while well widest. Cistron dug deep, but Air Strike had more left in the tank and collared that stubborn foe late to prevail by a head. Lightly raced Nero (Pioneerof the Nile) completed the trifecta. According to Trakus data, the winner covered 39 ft. (approx. 4 1/2 lengths) more than the runner-up.
Saturday, Santa Anita
TRIPLE BEND S.-GII, $201,053, Santa Anita, 5-25, 3yo/up, 7f, 1:23.12, ft.
1–AIR STRIKE, 121, c, 4, by Street Sense&log=">Street Sense
1st Dam: Omnitap, by Tapit
2nd Dam: Classic Olympio, by Olympio
3rd Dam: Palm Beach Dewey, by Talc
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O-Madaket
Stables LLC, Slam Dunk Racing and Nentwig, Michael; B-Gary &
Mary West Stables, Inc. (KY); T-Philip D'Amato; J-Norberto
Arroyo, Jr. $120,000. Lifetime Record: 10-3-2-1, $279,310.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick
Rating: A.
2–Cistron, 123, h, 5, The Factor–Major Allie, by Officer.
($180,000 Ylg '15 KEESEP). O-Hronis Racing LLC; B-St. George
Farm, LLC (KY); T-John W. Sadler. $40,000.
3–Nero, 121, c, 4, Pioneerof the Nile–Ocean Goddess, by
Stormy Atlantic. ($950,000 Ylg '16 FTSAUG). O-Tabor, M.,
Magnier, M., Smith, D. and Stonestreet Stables LLC;
B-Thor-Bred Stables, LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $24,000.
Margins: HD, 1HF, HF. Odds: 12.70, 5.90, 4.00.
Also Ran: American Anthem, Majestic Eagle, All Out Blitz, Law Abidin Citizen, The Hardest Way. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Air Strike was book-ended by next-out winners when a close second at third asking last July at Ellis for breeders Gary and Mary West and Steve Asmussen. He was acquired privately after that by Nick Cosato's red-hot Slam Dunk Racing, and made good on that investment with a 6 1/4-length romp at Del Mar last August first time for the Phil D'Amato barn. Sol Kumin's Madaket and Michael Netwig had bought in before he ran back and won again at the optional claiming level going 1 1/16 miles here in October. A close second as the chalk in the Nov. 21 Zia Park Derby, Air Strike was sixth behind GI Santa Anita H. hero Gift Box (Twirling Candy) in the GII San Antonio S. on opening day Dec. 26. Given some time off after that, he returned to be fourth behind Nero going an additional furlong Mar. 30 before his trip to Texas.
“He made a huge move that day at Lone Star, he just petered out that last eighth of a mile so we were left scratching our heads, is he a late running sprinter? Is he a grass miler? And we answered that today,” D'Amato said. “He's got the pedigree, the looks and he just looks like a great horse, he just has to put it all together and [jockey] Norberto [Arroyo, Jr.] brought him a long way today, hopefully we will keep going forward.
Pedigree Notes:
Air Strike is the 61st black-type winner and 30th graded winner for Street Sense and the 18th black-type winner and eighth graded winner out of a Tapit mare. Hailing from a family developed by the Winchells, his two-time-winning dam was purchased by Ben Glass on behalf of Gary and Mary West at the 2014 Keeneland November sale for $225,000 while she was carrying Air Strike. A daughter of MSW/MGSP Classic Olympio (Olympio) and a half to two multiple stakes winners, Omnitap has an unraced 2-year-old filly by Tiznow ($190,000 OBSAPR grad) and a yearling filly by Union Rags. She was most recently bred back to Street Sense.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
