Solid Wager seeks stakes hat trick in Cal Cup Sprint

Graded stakes winner Solid Wager heads a field of seven 4-year-olds and up in Saturday’s $150,000 Donald Valpredo California Cup Sprint Stakes at Santa Anita going 6 furlongs on the main track.

Trained by Peter Miller, Solid Wager was most recently victorious in the 6 ½ furlong, Grade III Midnight Lute Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 31 over a sloppy main track in a thrilling Dead Heat finish with stablemate St. Joe Bay.

Off for more than five months in mid-2016, Solid Wager is a two time winner of the 7 furlong Cary Grant Stakes at Del Mar both in Nov. 2015 and 2016.

Owned by Gary and Cecil Barber and Stanford Stable, Solid Wger is a 6-year-old bay gelding bred in California by Madera Thoroughbreds. He is by Birdonthewire out of the Valid Wager dam, G Ma. Solid Wager will be reunited with Martin Pedroza, as his most recent regular rider, Victor Espinoza, is set to ride two-time Horse of the Year, California Chrome, in the inaugural running of the $12 Million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream, also on Saturday (Approximate post time 2:44 PST.)

Solid Wager is 31-8-3-4 for lifetime with $469,921 in earnings.

The field, including jockeys and weights, for the Sunshine Millions Donald Valpredo Cal Cup Sprint Stakes –

Race 6 – Approximate post time of 2:15 p.m.

1.  Solid Wager, Martin Pedroza, 126

2.  Jimmy Bouncer, Mario Gutierrez, 124

3.  Senator Robert, Martin Garcia, 120

4.  Tough But Nice, Rafael Bejarano, 120

5.  Well Measured, Kent Desormeaux, 122

6.  Acceptance, Stewart Elliott, 124

7.  Richard’s Boy, Flavien Prat, 122