Coil, sent off as the fifth choice in a field of seven, rallied past favored Amazombie in the Santa Anita homestretch and held off a late run from his stablemate Capital Account to win the $250,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (gr. I) by a head.
Under a perfectly timed ride from Martin Garcia, Coil settled into fifth place out of seven horses, biding his time as Castletown and Reneesgotzip rocketed through fractions of :21.69 and :44.94. Amazombie, the heavy favorite, was sitting about three lengths behind them in third, and about two lengths lengths ahead of Jimmy Creed. Camp Victory and Capital Account were at the back of the pack.
Rounding the final turn and entering the homestretch, Amazombie made a big move to take command of the lead, but Coil was moving stronger on the far outside, and took over the lead from Amazombie just prior to the eighth pole. But even though Coil had the favorite beaten, victory was not yet guaranteed, for his own stablemate Capital Account was surging powerfully on the far outside. It appeared as though Capital Account had the necessary momentum to get up for the victory, but Coil dug deep in the final yards and held him off to win the six-furlong race by a head in 1:09.89 seconds.
Jimmy Creed finished three-quarters of a length behind Capital Account in third, with Amazombie another half-length back in fourth. Castletown, Camp Victory, and Reneesgotzip completed the order of finish.
The winner, a son of Point Given out of the Theatrical mare Eversmile, is trained by Bob Baffert and owned by Karl Watson, Mike Pegram, and Paul Weitman. The Santa Anita Sprint Championship marks his second grade I victory, the other coming in last year's Haskell Invitataional.
-Keelerman
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