KELVIN ‘N

The John O’Brien-trained un­beat­en three-year-old colt Head­lin­er was the head­line of the gal­lops last Sun­day at San­ta Rosa Park, Ari­ma. The Di­ane Scott-owned colt trav­elled well over 1,000 me­tres and looks the one to beat in this year’s Triple Crown se­ries af­ter win­ning the Guineas in com­mand­ing fash­ion.

O’Brien must be com­pli­ment­ed for his su­perb han­dling of Head­lin­er, who was the two-year-old cham­pi­on and has now won four races on the trot. The su­perbly-bred colt by Head­line News/B’S Pas­sion made every inch of the run­ning to run out a 2 1/2 length win­ner in the FCB Ju­ve­nile Cham­pi­onship. He could not have won this Grade Two event any more im­pres­sive­ly. Own­er Di­ane Scott will be pray­ing to see her colt con­tin­ue his good form in 2025 with­out an in­jury.

On Sun­day morn­ing, O’Brien sent the three-year-old out over 1,000m, and he re­spond­ed with an easy 1:03.79 tim­ing for the dis­tance. He trav­elled well go­ing up the back-straight be­fore quick­en­ing up com­ing to the cor­ner and was easy at the end of the gal­lop. He is ready to win the sec­ond jew­el of lo­cal rac­ing’s Triple Crown, the Mid­sum­mer Clas­sic. Clear­ly, he has con­tin­ued to thrive.

Train­er Lester Alex­is has his for­mer Clas­sic horse El Rey San­jay, who was in­jured last year, back on song. This horse has come on well in the past three weeks and will be seek­ing to get back on the win­ning trail. She trav­elled fast and reg­is­tered the time of 51.16 sec­onds for the trip. He looks to be on the right and ready path.

An­oth­er who looked well af­ter her Bar­ba­dos trav­el when she raced in the top Bar­ba­di­an sprint, Sneaky Cheeky, the Stew­ards Cup win­ner, was easy in her gal­lop over 800m. She looked well and reg­is­tered the time of 53.44 sec­onds for the trip. She will no doubt come on for the gal­lop.

The Glenn Mendez-trained Crys­tal Alert worked in com­pa­ny with Just Isa Bel­la and the pair worked well over 400m. The pair reg­is­tered a good time of 25.75 for a run and both could go close next race day.

Here are the gal­lops record­ed at San­ta Rosa Park last Sun­day on a slop­py main track.

Sun­day’s gal­lops

400m: Crys­tal Alert and Just Isa Bel­la 25.75; Valiante and Hot Rod Kash­ton 25.78; Mag­nifi­co 27.05; Ar­salan 28.05; Tsuna­mi 29.16; Un­cle Ben 29.50; Dream Catch­er 29.97; Bour­bon Blitz 29.98; Show­time 29.99.

600M: Red Alert 38.16; Lit­tle La­dy 38.59; So­ca Ec­sta­cy 38.89; For­ev­er Grand 40.00: Un­be­liev­able 42.03; Syd­ney 44.40.

800M: C’est La Vie and El Rey San­jay 51.16; Have A Great Day 52.33; Sneaky Cheeky 53.44; Princess Roy­al 56.72; Schwarzeneg­ger 56.97; Bold and Brave 59.10; Creme De La Creme and Un­cle Rog 59.94; El Chico Ma­lo 59.97.

1,000M: Head­lin­er 1.03.79; Free Pass 1.08.89; Supreme Leader 1.12.25; Strik­ing Chrome 1.13.5.