California Flag Handicap
6 1/2 Furlongs Turf Stake Purse $100.00 Three Year Olds & Upward Foaled In CA. At SA
California Flag Handicap should be a meeting at the wire between Hard Worker and Woodcock, and if there is any miscue by either of those two, longshot Suspect The Worst will be running on to collect the flag.
Here’s the California Flag Handicap handicap:
Horse Owner Odds SRF
Hard Worker The Sidley Stud 2-1 98
Woodcock Spankys Barn *9-5 95
Suspect The Worst Nakamura Stables 10-1 99
Star Skeleton Chili King Stables 4-1 100
Bronx Copper Langley Farms 5-1 96
Its My Life Mo Mentum Farm 6-1 95
Lord Cherokee Threshold 8-1 93
Foxy Devil Maxmillion Farm 15-1 99
Mambo Rock High Voltage 20-1 96
1 Bronx Copper Langley Farms 96
Precocious Bronx Copper has only had eight races and won half of them. Thing is, none of them were stakes races, in fact he’s never placed in a stakes race. Also; his turf racing is limited, and he has never even raced in a turf sprint. Too make matters all the worse, he’s three years old. This race has thirteen editions and a three-year-old has never won. But he’s a nice horse and doesn’t place all that low in the handicap.
2 Hard Worker The Sidley Stud 98
Hard Worker recently placed second in the Grade II Vanderbilt Handicap at SAR on six-furlongs dirt; dirt, you say? But this is a turf handicap! And this horse has not seen grass for five races. Well, this horse doesn’t care. The last time he was in a turf race, it was a race just like this, here at SA, the $100.00 Sensational Star Stakes and he came within a nose of winning that race. He’s tough in these races. He has finished second in every turf sprint he’s ever been in. My odds have him to do that again, but my handicap says he can do better.
3 Foxy Devil Maxmillion Farm 99
Foxy Devil hasn’t placed in a stakes race since July ’24 when he finished second in the $125.00 Dade Park Dash at ELP.
4 Its My Life Mo Mentum Farm 95
Lightly raced Its My Life won the only turf sprint he ever raced in, problem is, it was his maiden win. The rest of his races have been turf routes and only one stakes race in which he was up the track. Mo Mentum picked him up at auction from Broken Spoke Stables for $43.00 and this is his first race for him. Again, there is the three-year-old problem.
5 Lord Cherokee Threshold 93
Aging Lord Cherokee has a long history of stakes successes and failures He once placed third by only a head in the Grade I Awesome Again at 1 1/8 mile at SA. Unfortunately, the only sprint turf races he has ever seen are his last two, and he ran third in a five-furlong turf sprint allowance at BTP.
6 Woodcock Spankys Barn 95
Since being picked up at auction from Royalty Stables for $107.00, Woodcock has hit the board in every turf sprint he’s been in and, most recently placed third in the Grade III Turf Monster Handicap at PRX only a half-length off the win at long odds. Should be the favourite.
7 Star Skeleton Chili King Stables 100
Star Skeleton registered a 100 SRF in running fourth in the Grade II Green Flash Handicap at DMR. He only lost by a length, but the race was that tough. The race before that he was running in claiming races, I reckon Chili King earned his stripes in the Green Flash, and I agree.
8 Mambo Rock High Voltage 96
Mambo Rock has yet to place in a stakes race,
9 Suspect The Worst Nakamura Stables 99
Suspect The Worst hasn’t been in a turf sprint since May ’24 when he ran second in a LS six-furlong turf sprint. His works are the same, May ’24 when he prepped in :57 3/5H on the SA flat, a bullet of five. A savvy trainer, Nakamura always works him six-furlongs which keeps him in shape for long or short. He prepped him a couple of bullet works down the hill, which should make him familiar with all its quirks. I think this is a nice longshot chance… and if he turns out to be the favourite, remember you heard it here first.
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded
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