Saint Leon After Third Arlington Sprint Win

Oak Rock Racing’s Saint Leon, the two-time defending champion of the Arlington Sprint, will attempt to add a third victory in the Listed $75,000 event to be run at 5½ furlongs over the Arlington International Racecourse turf on Saturday.

The venerable 9-year-old gelding has raced twice in 2014 heading into the Sprint with a pair of second-place finishes in high class six-furlong allowance races over Arlington’s Polytrack main track.  The sparing amount of starts since last year’s Arlington Sprint shouldn’t be of concern as last year the Michele Boyce-trained son of Stravinsky had made but one start before capturing last year’s renewal.  His regular rider E. T. Baird will be aboard again on Saturday.

If Saint Leon is to repeat, he will have his work cut out for him as several of his rivals have stakes race experience including Team Forester’s Positive Side and World Thoroughbred Racing’s Tell All You Know.

The former, a Grant Forester-trained son of Johar, was runner-up to Marchman in the Grade III Shakertown at Keeneland in April and third again to that foe in the Grade III Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs the following month.  In his most recent effort, Positive Side ran eighth in the Grade III Jaipur at Belmont Park on the Belmont Stakes undercard.  Emmanuel Esquival will be aboard the 6-year-old gelding for the first time in the Sprint.

Tell All You Know carries a two-race win streak into Saturday’s Sprint including a ¾-length victory five-furlong in the $75,000 Honor The Hero Stakes on turf at Minnesota’s Canterbury Park.  The Tony Granitz trainee has not finished worse than third in four starts on the turf this year.  Dylan Davis has the call to ride the 5-year-old son of Van Nistelrooy.

Joseph Novogratz’s El Seventyseven was third behind Tell All You Know in the Honor The Hero which was the seasonal bow for the Hugh Robertson-trained 6-year-old gelding.  The son of Stormy Atlantic was second in last year’s Honor The Hero and three of his five lifetime victories have been on turf.  James Graham has the mount.

The remainder of the Arlington Sprint lineup (with jockey listed) is: Lael Stables, Ralph Stroope, Ronny Werner and Chris Green’s Anyriderill Do (Florent Geroux); Tommy Ray Mills’ Jasizzle (Brandon Whitacre); Looch Racing Stable’s Law Dog (Julio Felix); and Ike and Dawn Thrash’s Liz Pendens (C. H. Marquez Jr.)