ARCADIA, Calif. – While the top sprinters from California race next week in million-dollar races in the Middle East, less accomplished local sprinters race for a $100,000 purse in the first of two Grade 3 races Saturday at Santa Anita. Pilot Commander is odds-on in the San Carlos Stakes, a seven-furlong race with five entrants. It’s an easy spot, because the best local sprinters run April 5 in Dubai. Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Straight No Chaser is favored in the $2 million Golden Shaheen; Malibu Stakes winner Raging Torrent runs in the $1 million Godolphin Mile. Along with the retirement of The Chosen Vron and out-of-state plans for Grade 3 winner Roll On Big Joe, the local sprint division could use a boost. So could the female turf division, which is the second stakes race Saturday. Tirupati tops the one-mile Wilshire Stakes, race 8. :: Playing Santa Anita? Get the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports available now. The San Carlos is race 3, and though Pilot Commander drew the rail, expectations are high. Favorites have won the San Carlos six of the last nine years. Bob Baffert-trained Pilot Commander is the fastest in the field, facing four others. They are Grade 3 winner Fort Bragg, For All Mankind, Grade 2-winning comebacker Spirit of Makena, and stakes winner Vlahos. Pilot Commander dominated a second-level allowance last out, his third win from six starts. “He’s doing really well, he’s doing better than he ever has,” Baffert said. Juan Hernandez rides Pilot Commander, whose chief rival is his Baffert-trained stablemate in post 2. Fort Bragg will make his first start since Dec. 1. He worked five furlongs in company last weekend outside Pilot Commander. Both were given the same fast time, 59.40 seconds, though Pilot Commander was best. Still, it was a good drill by Fort Bragg, whose rider is Kazushi Kimura. “We’re getting ready for Kentucky,” Baffert said. “Run him here, then go to Kentucky.” The Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes on May 3, Kentucky Derby Day, is an option for both Pilot Commander and Fort Bragg. Baffert’s best chance to win a stakes race this spring at Churchill Downs may be on the Derby or Oaks undercards. He tentatively plans to send Grade 1 Beholder Mile winner Cavalieri to Churchill Downs for the Grade 1 La Troienne on May 2. Others in the San Carlos include For All Mankind, a last-out Grade 3 runner-up. Spirit of Makena, a Grade 2 and Grade 3 winner, will make his first start since September 2023 and probably needs one. Vlahos drew outside and will contest the pace. Wilshire Stakes The co-feature Saturday is the $100,000 Wilshire for fillies and mares at a mile on turf. Jonathan Thomas trains Tirupati, the 7-5 program favorite based on her runner-up finish early this month in the Grade 2 Buena Vista over the same course and distance. “It was a weird race with a lot of pace,” Thomas noted. “Although she was [positioned] second, it’s almost like she was by herself.” Tirupati raced alone in second, some eight lengths behind kamikaze pacesetter Omaha Girl. When that rival backed up, Tirupati inherited the lead passing the quarter pole and was on her way to victory until Liguria found a path inside and nailed Tirupati by a head. The runner-up finish by Tirupati earned the highest number of her career, a 94 Beyer Speed Figure, and validated the decision by Thomas and Augustin Stables to re-claim Tirupati for $50,000 last fall after losing her for $25,000 the start before. “We liked her enough to get her back,” Thomas said. “I wasn’t anticipating graded stakes. I just thought she’d be a good filly for the [starter-allowance] series.” Umberto Rispoli rides Tirupati from the inside post, which is perfect. “I love the post,” Thomas said and outlined her ideal trip. “Just sit a nice pocket trip, be close, not leave her too much do.” Alpha Bella finished second in three graded stakes on dirt after relocating to California from the East. John Sadler trains Alpha Bella, whose rider is Juan Hernandez. Alpha Bella won a Grade 3 on turf at Gulfstream Park in January 2024. It is uncertain if she will be as effective on California turf as California dirt. The field also includes Grade 3 winner Uncorked, recently third in her comeback. Others in the seven-runner field are Tahini, Desert Rhapsody, Sophisticate, and Big Hug. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.