Trinniberg Named Champion Sprinter

The Sprint division in 2012 took some odd twists during the course of the year, with the first half of the year focused on the defending champion Amazombie. But when the 6-year-old gelding lost his form late in the year it opened the door to every fast horse with stakes credentials.

In the end, which proved to be the final furlong of the Xpressbet Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I), it all came down to a pair of 3-year-olds: Trinniberg  and The Lumber Guy. Although both had their shining moments, they went into the Breeders' Cup far apart on the odds board, with The Lumber Guy 7-2 and Trinniberg 13-1 as Trinniberg was coming off three straight defeats after his early season heroics in the Woody Stephens (gr. II), Bay Shore (gr. III), and Swale (gr. III) stakes against 3-year-olds.

An overambitious attempt to stretch him out in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) didn't exactly pan out. After his 17th-place finish in the Derby he was returned to sprinting by the respective father-son team of Bisnath Parboo and Shivanada Parbhoo (a typo on Bisnath's papers resulted in the misspelling). Bisnath was listed as trainer and Shivananda as owner. Later the ownership would be listed simply as Shivananda Racing.

In the Swale and Bay Shore, the son of Teuflesberg --Bella Dorato, by Goldminers Gold, had won convincingly. He showed the Derby experiment didn't hurt him by bouncing back with a 1 3/4-length victory in the Woody Stephens.

Although he lost his next three, one was a neck defeat in the Carry Back Stakes (gr. III) at Calder Casino & Race Course and in another, he was beaten a half-length in the Gallant Bob Stakes at Parx Racing. In between was an inexplicable ninth-place finish in the Foxwoods King's Bishop Stakes (gr. I).

Trinniberg, bred in Kentucky by J M Stables, picked a good day to return to his early season form. After pressing a scorching half in :43.73, he opened a clear lead in the stretch and held off The Lumber Guy to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:07.98. Not bad for a $1,500 yearling and $21,000 2-year-old.