To view the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, click here.
by Jeff Lowe
Emphatically making up for his only loss since August 2008, California-bred speedster California Flag rolled to a 1 3/4-length win in the $909,000 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Saturday at Santa Anita Park.
The five-year-old Avenue of Flags gelding finished tenth in the 2008 Turf Sprint on the same downhill course, his lone defeat over his last seven starts for owner-breeder Keith Card’s Hi Card Ranch.
The favorite at 3.40-to-1, California Flag managed to control a slower pace this time, leading the full field of 14 through a an opening quarter in :21.50 and a half-mile in :43.09. Turning for home, he drew away for jockey Joe Talamo to complete the 6½ furlongs in 1:11.28 on a course rated as firm.
“We learned from our mistakes last year,” said trainer Brian Koriner, who registered his first Breeders’ Cup victory. “There wasn’t a crazy speed horse in there. I just told Joe, ‘When you leave there, don’t get excited, let him leave on his own.’ I think that was the difference. If you let him go on his own, it was his race to win from there.”
Talamo, 19, also scored his first Breeders’ Cup win, and he has been California Flag’s regular partner in seven wins over nine starts, including back-to-back editions of the Morvich Handicap (G3) on the same course at the same distance, along with the 2008 Hollywood Turf Express Handicap (G3), and ’09 Green Flash Handicap at Del Mar.
Card, an 82-year-old World War II veteran who has been in declining health, summed up the Breeders’ Cup triumph as an “awesome feeling.” He has four broodmares, and pointed to California Flag as his best horse in more than 40 years as an owner and breeder.
“We didn’t even know if he was going to be here for this,” Koriner said. “He’s had a couple strokes, and it’s just a great thing for a man who has put so much into this game.”
Five-year-old mare Gotta Have Her closed gallantly to finish second, and Cannonball rallied to finish another three-quarters of a length back in third.
California Flag notched his eighth win in 16 career starts. He earned $540,000 to push his bankroll to $952,996.
Card, who has a ten-acre ranch in Murrieta, California, bred California Flag out of the Afleet mare Ultrafleet. The gray or roan gelding is a full brother to Cambiocorsa, whom Card raised at Hi Card Ranch. She scored six straight wins on the Santa Anita downhill turf course in 2006, including three stakes races.
For quotes, click here.
For video of winning jockey Joe Talamo, click here.
For video of winning trainer Brian Koriner, click here.
For video of winning owner from Hi Card Ranch, click here.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer