6th-Santa Anita, $59,088, Alw (NW2$X)/Opt. Clm ($62,500), 5-17, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:10.03, ft
COLLUSION ILLUSION (c, 3, Twirling Candy–Natalie Grace, by First Dude) bested a hard-knocking field of older rivals to assert himself as a sophomore to watch in the right season to get off to a belated start. A debut winner at Del Mar last July, the :10 flat OBSAPR breezer added a 7-1 score in the GII Best Pal S. there three weeks later, but came up empty early when stretching out for the GI American Pharoah S. Sept. 27 and was pulled up. Sporting a quick worktab for this return, Collusion Illusion was given a 5-2 chance despite needing to get significantly faster in order to contend. Away well from his outside draw, the bay was hung out wide in midpack behind splits of :22.08 and :45.23. He circled up heading for the home, and leveled off powerfully in midstretch to pick off foes and kick away impressively under hot-handed Flavien Prat. Favorite Tiger Dad (Smiling Tiger) was best of the rest. The winner is the lone foal out of a late half-sister to the good GSW sprinters Bahamian Squall (Gone West) and Apriority (Grand Slam). Sales history: $50,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP; $300,000 2yo '19 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: GSW, 4-3-0-0, $188,751. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O-Dan J. Agnew, Rodney E. Orr, Jerry Schneider & John V. Xitco; B-Donald R. Dizney, LLC (FL); T-Mark Glatt.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
