From Santa Anita Publicity ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 21, 2013) — Weewinnin lit up the tote board with his half-length victory in the King Glorious Stakes on Betfair Hollywood Park’s Cushion Track last Dec. 16, paying $122 to win.
Boxcar numbers will not be evident again if the 3-year-old Comic Strip colt wins Saturday’s $300,000 California Breeders’ Champion Stakes at one mile, his first race on conventional dirt.
He broke his maiden for $32,000 on Golden Gate’s Tapeta surface first out last June, then was fourth to Strong Wind on Del Mar’s Polytrack in the Graduation Stakes Aug. 1.
“That was the first time I rode him,” jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. said of the King Glorious. “He had been training well up to the race, and in those Cal-bred races, anybody can jump up at any given time, so we’ll see how he runs on the main track.”
“He worked five-eighths yesterday (1:01.40),” said Brian Koriner, who trains Weewinnin for owners Jim Atwell of Sunnyvale, Jill and William Gray of Cottonwood, and Janet Lyons of Hillsborough.
“Everything’s good,” Koriner continued. “It was a shocker that he was that big of a price (in the King Glorious), because he had just run fourth against the same horses (in the Graduation) and got beat a head for second. But he’s doing good now and that’s all I can ask.”