The Goat makes U.S. debut in Santa Anita's Triple Bend Stakes

The Triple Bend Stakes will lean on a sharp contrast in résumés when The Goat makes his United States debut May 31 at Santa Anita Park: a Chilean star who arrived with Group 1 credentials against Stronghold, a proven Grade 1 California dirt horse trying to reassert himself after a layoff. The 7-furlong dirt sprint carries a $100,000 purse and will go as Race 8 at the Arcadia track.

The Goat brings the kind of foreign form that can change the shape of a sprint division. The 5-year-old by Midshipman has not started since winning Chile’s G1 St. Leger in December 2024, and he will step onto an American dirt track after eight workouts since March 29 for trainer John Sadler. His local unveiling follows a steady buildup that included bullet works at 5 furlongs on April 27 and again at 4 furlongs on May 4, a sign that Sadler has been aiming to have him sharp for this first domestic test. The Goat will carry 126 pounds and be ridden by Emisael Jaramillo. BloodHorse’s race card lists him as owned by Don Alberto Stable or Paola Stable and bred by Haras Don Alberto.

Stronghold offers the domestic benchmark. The 5-year-old son of Ghostzapper returned April 17 at Oaklawn Park from a nearly eight-month layoff and dead-heated for the win in a 1 1/16-mile allowance, then drilled 5 furlongs in 59.8 seconds on May 25. He already owns a signature victory in the 2024 Santa Anita Derby, when he beat favored Imagination by a neck in the 87th running before 32,089 fans. That win still anchors his profile as a colt who once held up against elite California dirt company and now tries to turn that class back into momentum.

The rest of the field is small, but the race is not hollow. The current entry list also includes The Last Straw and Bartholdy, leaving the Triple Bend with a compact five-horse look and a strong stakes center of gravity around The Goat and Stronghold. That format can produce a faster, more tactical sprint, especially at 7 furlongs, where position and pace tend to decide how much class matters in the final furlong.

The Triple Bend has long offered a serious benchmark for older sprinters. Equibase lists Rich Cream’s 1:19.40 in 1980 as the fastest time since 1976, a mark that was a world-record clocking for seven furlongs at the time, while Nysos set the largest winning margin in that span at 5 1/2 lengths in 2025. With Porterhouse having won it twice in the 1950s and Unfurl the Flag carrying the highest winning weight since 1976 at 125 pounds, this year’s renewal adds another layer: whether The Goat’s South American class can translate immediately, or whether Stronghold reminds everyone that established Grade 1 form still travels fastest on the Santa Anita dirt.