ARCADIA, Calif. – The final card of 2021 includes a tantalizing preview of 2022 on Friday at Santa Anita, where three races for maiden 2-year-olds offer as much relevance as the eighth-race feature for allowance sprinters. Although another storm was expected midweek, Friday’s card will not be marred by a repeat of Monday’s last-minute surface-switch fiasco. Santa Anita ran three races over its wet turf course Monday, then moved two others to dirt when the forecast rain began. On Friday, all nine races are on dirt. The latest storm was expected to dissipate Thursday evening. Got Thunder, a highly regarded 2-year-old maiden, makes his second start in race 6 as possibly the most significant Friday entrant. Runner-up first out, Got Thunder figures to be strongly favored over first-time starter Armagnac at 6 1/2 furlongs. The maiden sprint is a split of race 4, in which second-time starter B Dawk faces firster McLaren Vale. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports Two-year-old maidens stretch to a mile in race 7, led by Flying Drummer. He drops from a productive Grade 1 to face second-time starter Moment of Peace. In the race-8 allowance feature for 3-year-olds and up, Arham meets Took Charge and Canadian Pride at six furlongs. John Sadler trains race-6 favorite Got Thunder, an Arrogate colt whose debut was superb. A $750,000 juvenile purchase favored first out at Del Mar, Got Thunder did everything but win. He dueled inside a three-way jam, battled through the lane, and finished second. “The track was particularly heavy on the inside that day, and when you are drawn [inside in post 3], you kind of have to go if you want to win,” Sadler said. “For him to go down there in 44 and fight it out, I liked his race a lot. This isn’t a one-dimensional horse.” Got Thunder and Flavien Prat pressed a 44.82 half in the six-furlong race, and missed by a length and a half. Considering his performance under disadvantageous conditions, Got Thunder should improve considerably from the outside post in the six-runner field. Sadler and owners West Point Thoroughbreds and Michael Talla considered stretching out Got Thunder off one sprint, but opted to run him short once again. “I’m looking forward more to the race after this one,” Sadler said. “We’re going to stretch him out.” A sibling to millionaire Grade 1 turf winner Heart to Heart, Got Thunder could be a key player in the California 3-year-old division in 2022. Prat rides Got Thunder, whose main rival is Bob Baffert-trained Armagnac, a Quality Road first-timer who has posted fast works. Others in race 6 include firster Wharton, also trained by Baffert, and second-time starter Mo Them Down. In race 4, B Dawk switches to dirt after a better-than-looked debut third sprinting five furlongs on turf. He lost position and was shuffled back, finished with run, and galloped out in front of the field. Doug O’Neill trains the son of Gormley. His main rival is Baffert-trained firster McLaren Vale. Race-7 favorite Flying Drummer will be formidable in the mile race. Baffert trains the Gun Runner colt, runner-up twice before taking a shot in the Grade 1 American Pharoah. He finished fifth behind subsequent Breeders’ Cup Juvenile one-two finishers Corniche and Pappacap. Fourth-place Rockefeller and sixth-place Finneus returned to win stakes. The main rival for Flying Drummer is Sadler-trained Moment of Peace, who finished fourth in the sprint Got Thunder exits. Referring to Moment of Peace, Sadler said: “He’s really a route horse. We love him at a mile.” In race 8, a second-level allowance, Took Charge will vie for favoritism off a 98-Beyer win in a first-level allowance sprint at Del Mar. But Arham looms an upset candidate shortening in distance after winning a first-level allowance mile in his first start after a private sale and trainer switch to Vladimir Cerin. “He won his maiden race first time out going six furlongs, so I think he can probably run short,” Cerin said, acknowledging the colt’s recent training has been interrupted by rain and fog. “We missed training a few times, as did everybody else, so that’s another reason why I’m running him short. I don’t think we’re going to see his best this week.” Arham is owned by David and Holly Wilson, who recently acquired a 14-horse package of racing-age runners from Shadwell Stable. Arham was the first from the group ready to run. Cerin said others are expected to race later this winter.