Three former champions highlight Arlington Sprint field

Saturday’s $100,000 Arlington Sprint has attracted three of the last four winners of the 5½-furlong turf dash — including one horse that went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Returning for this year’s renewal are Margaret Burlingham’s defending champion Saint Leon, Carl Moore Management’s 2010 victor Chamberlain Bridge and Ginger Haas’ Yankee Injunuity, the 2009 winner.

Since capturing last year’s race by a half-length over Chamberlain Bridge, Saint Leon has made just one start. The 8-year-old Michele Boyce-trained gelding was a 3-length winner as the 2-1 favorite in a conditioned allowance race at 6 furlongs over Polytrack on May 12. Saint Leon was once claimed for $5,000 before being claimed back by his owner and nursed back to racing condition by Boyce after a long layoff. Regular rider E.T. Baird retains the mount for Saturday’s return.

Second in this race in 2009 as well as last year, Chamberlain Bridge was at the top of his game when taking the 2010 race by 4½ lengths as part of a campaign that culminated with victory in the Grade II Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in November at Churchill Downs.

Though the son of War Chant has won just three times since that Breeders’ Cup score, the 9-year-old has shown signs of his old self with a runner-up finish in the Grade III Turf Sprint at Churchill on Kentucky Derby Day. He endured a troubled trip last out in the $150,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup Handicap on June 1 and is looking to rebound here with Miguel Mena aboard.

Yankee Injunuity has lately been a solid performer in the allowance and high-end claiming ranks. The Jim McMullen-trained son of Yankee Victor captured a June 9 allowance race at the Arlington Sprint distance and has finished second in two other turf dashes at the meet. Channing Hill picks up the mount in Saturday’s race.

Several other stakes winners have been entered in Saturday’s event, including William Stiritz’s Hogy, Hugh Robertson’s Bet Seattle and Looch Racing Stable’s Global Power. Of these, only Hogy is coming in off a graded-stakes tally, having captured the Grade III Hanshin Cup at a mile over Polytrack in May. Bet Seattle enters off a tally in the $50,000 Honor the Hero Stakes over soft turf at Canterbury Park at the end of May and Global Power won several two-turn turf races last summer.

Others in the Sprint lineup include Batito, Cherokee Lord and Que Posse.