Perfect in the five races he's finished, Collusion Illusion will look for a third consecutive graded stakes victory when he faces an expected four other horses in the $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G2) Sept. 27 at Santa Anita Park.
Focused on sprinting this season, Dan Agnew, Rodney Orr, Jerry Schneider, and John Xitco's Collusion Illusion has won all three of his starts, most recently rallying from seventh to post a nose victory over Lexitonian in the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) Aug. 1 at Del Mar.
Video: Bing Crosby S. (G1)
Trained by Mark Glatt, Collusion Illusion's other wins this season came at Santa Anita in the Lazaro Barrera Stakes (G3) in June and in an allowance-level test in May. The 3-year-old son of Twirling Candy won his maiden debut and the Best Pal Stakes (G3) last year at Del Mar before being pulled up in the 1 1/16-mile American Pharoah Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita.
Regular rider Flavien Prat will be aboard when Collusion Illusion starts from the inside in Saturday's six-furlong test, which is a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series event offering a Breeders' Cup Challenge berth to the Sprint (G1).
The morning-line favorite in the race is the more experienced C Z Rocket, a 6-year-old son of City Zip who enters with a four-race win streak, including a half-length score last out in the Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2). That marked the first graded stakes win for Gary Barber and Tom Kagele's C Z Rocket, who was claimed in April at Oaklawn Park for $40,000 and moved to trainer Peter Miller.
Since that claim, C Z Rocket won a claiming race and an allowance-level race at Churchill Downs, an allowance-level race at Keeneland, and the Pat O'Brien.
"Tom Kagele actually called me (about claiming the horse), and I said, 'His form is bad right now, but he's a runner.' You could see he had run some really fast races," Miller said after the Pat O'Brien. "I like old class horses that have shown talent. If you can get them going in the right direction, they can run back to past form. Tom claimed him and the rest is history."
The runner-up from the Pat O'Brien, Lane's End Racing and Hronis Racing's Flagstaff, also is entered in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship. The 6-year-old Speightstown gelding, a grade 2 winner, finished third in last year's edition of this race for trainer John Sadler.
Rounding out the field are grade 1-placed California-bred Desert Law and two-time grade 2 winner Giant Expectations, who will aim to snap an 11-race losing streak when he starts from the outside post.
"It's a salty spot and they're all very nice horses," said Giant Expectations' trainer, Peter Eurton. "At least I got a good draw. He's trained well for the race, and I think he needed his last race very much." Santa Anita Park, Sunday, September 27, 2020, Race 8
Entries: Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. (G2)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Collusion Illusion (FL) Flavien Prat 122 Mark Glatt 9/5 2 2Desert Law (CA) Juan J. Hernandez 122 Carla Gaines 8/1 3 3Flagstaff (KY) Victor Espinoza 124 John W. Sadler 5/2 4 4C Z Rocket (FL) Luis Saez 124 Peter Miller 8/5 5 5Giant Expectations (NY) Abel Cedillo 122 Peter Eurton 6/1
