Cham­pi­on train­er John O’Brien fresh from win­ning the Grade One - Tan­gle­wood Stakes in Bar­ba­dos, sets his sights on the first three-year-old fea­ture the Chief Com­man­der Clas­sic over 1,600 me­tres on the turf track at San­ta Rosa Park, Ari­ma.

The un­beat­en three-year-old Head­lin­er will be get­ting set to win this year’s Triple Crown when he goes to post on Sat­ur­day in the fea­ture event, which has brought a new spon­sor in­to the rac­ing in­dus­try. The spon­sor for the Chief Com­man­der Clas­sic is 21st Cen­tu­ry In­sur­ance& Re-In­sur­ance Bro­kers Ltd.

Head­lin­er has won his last three races im­pres­sive­ly and will be dif­fi­cult to beat in the Grade Three event on the turf.

O’Brien has three hors­es en­gaged head­ed by Head­lin­er, sta­ble­mates Bour­bon Blitz and Syd­ney will race along­side the top three-year-old.

The Michael Lutch­man-trained Vari­ante and the Jonathan Ly­der-con­di­tioned duo of Show­time and Supreme Leader are ex­pect­ed to run well.

When en­tries were tak­en yes­ter­day a to­tal of 34 hors­es were con­sid­ered for the Ari­ma Race Club’s (ARC) six-race card. The oth­er two races will be simul­cast from Gulf­stream Park in Flori­da.

Post time is 12.45 pm.

Here are the En­tries for day three of the ARC rac­ing sea­son.

ARC DAY 3 EN­TRIES

R1: 12.45PM - ARI­MA DI­AL HAND­I­CAP - NA­TIVE BRED 4 YO AND OVER MAID­ENS - 1,100M (Turf) - $16,837

582 1 Bold and Brave M Box­ie/N Abrego 57.0

922 2 Nu­clear War R Ram­roop/J Boodram­s­ing 57.0

773 3 Cap­i­tal Tee D Bal­want/S Sookhan 57.0

--- 4 De­spaci­to W De­bysingh/A Poon 57.0

R2: 1.30 PM - CAL­VARY HILL HAND­I­CAP - MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O. AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 30-0 - 1,350M - $16,837

725 1 Em­press Has­san L Alex­is/R Jadoo 58.0

664 2 Red Alert M Lutch­man/D Khelawan 58.5

D45 3 Pure Strike K Lu­cas/A Poon 49.5

538 4 Twit­ter King K Lu­cas/O Mo­hammed 57.0

R3: 2.15 PM - LAR­RY GOMES HAND­I­CAP - MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O. AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 40-25 - 1,350M -$16,837

--6 1 Un­cle Ben M Lutch­man/J Stephen 50.5

--3 2 So­ca Ec­sta­cy J O’Brien/R Jadoo 47.5

856 3 Mona Lisa R Fred­er­icks/A Poon 54.5

421 4 Hot Rod Kash­ton L Alex­is/J Boodram­s­ing 56.5

142 5 Schwarzeneg­ger R Ram­roop/T Phillips 58

656 6 Al­pha Cen­tau­ri H Singh/O Mo­hammed 56.0

R4: 3 PM - LORD KICH­EN­ER HAND­I­CAP - MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O. AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 50-35 - 1,200M - $16,837

113 1 For­ev­er Grand R Ram­roop/O Mo­hammed 58.5

234 2 Un­cle Rog J O’Brien/J Stephen 54.0

411 3 Creme De La Creme J O’Brien/J Stephen 54.0

423 4 Lit­tle La­dy G Mendez/R Jadoo 55.5

122 5 CP Jet R Fred­er­ick/N Abrego 57.0

214 6 Prince Con­nor C Ram­baran/S Sookhan 54.0

R5: 3.45 PM - Roy­al Char­ter Hand­i­cap MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK8 HAND­I­CAP 3 YO AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 70-55 - 1,350M - $21,429

581 1 El Chico Ma­lo J Ly­der/A Poon 51.0

--2 2 Kit­ten With A Whip G Mendez/R Jadoo 54

125 3 Ar­salan L Alex­is/T Phillips 57.0

633 4 C’est La Vie J Ram­per­sad/J Boodram­s­ing 54

312 5 Princess Roy­al J O’Brien/J Stephen 52

663 6 Head­lines Again J O’Brien/D Khelawan 53

R6: 4.30PM - CHIEF COM­MAN­DER CLAS­SIC (GR III R) Spon­sored by 21st Cen­tu­ry In­sur­ance & Re-In­sur­ance Bro­kers Lim­it­ed OPEN TO NA­TIVE BRED 3 YO - 1,600M (Turf) - $38,524

-83 1 Bour­bob Blitz J O’Brien/J Stephen 57.0

507 2 Tsuna­mi C Ram­baran/N Abrego 57.0

-45 3 Supreme Leader J Ly­der/O Mo­hammed 57.0

--9 4 The Fal­con JM Sama­roo/T Phillips 57.0

-74 5 Syd­ney J O’Brien/R Jadoo 54.0

111 6 Head­lin­er J O’Brien/D Khelawan 57.0

245 7 Vari­ante M Lutch­man/J Boodram­s­ingh 57.0

-31 8 Show­time J Ly­der/A Poon 57.0