Californian Stakes (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
SA- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
April 20, 2019

Saturday was a great day for Maxmillion Farm. While willing the Grade 2 Californian Stakes was not the biggest score of the day, it turned out the storm that was coming was all of the Maxmillion Farm entries going to post today. Here in the Californian Stakes, A Storm Has Arrived did seem to be the horse the beat by quite a bit, but you never really know in our virtual world. There would be no disappointment here as the favorite took care of business and gave Maxmillion Farm his second win in the stake, coming in back to back years. G Franco, the winning jockey, is a first time winner. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:48.29. Let’s take a look!

(½ Mile- :48.28)- Both The Chief, out of D J C Racing Stables, and our eventual winner, A Storm Has Arrived, out of Maxmillion Farm break well out of the starting gate. The Chief takes the initial advantage heading into the first turn, and leads for its duration. As the backstretch run beings, A Storm Has Arrived makes his advance and claims the lead as they hit a half mile. Running in a comfortable stalking position behind them are Jakes Last Chance, for Nolespan Racing, and Lucky Kommand, for Barcelona Farms. It’s a gap of three lengths to the trailers, Hollywood Eclipse (Nakamura Stables), and Il Assets (Gdp Inc).

(3/4 Mile- 1:11.77)- In the backstretch, A Storm Has Arrived pulls away from his competition by a length and a half as The Chief is unable to keep up, and neither of the two stalkers, Jakes Last Chance and Lucky Kommand make up any ground. Hollywood Eclipse and Il Assets still run side by side, but are a little closer now, just four and half lengths off the lead.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- A Storm Has Arrived is looking the class of the field, and only extends his lead a little more as they round the turn and enter the stretch. His advantage is two and a half lengths now over the competition, and as he seems to still be in full stride, the only question was going to be who was going to complete the exacta. Lucky Kommand was moving by The Chief for second, and Jakes Last Chance was trying to come through on the inside. Hollywood Eclipse was going four wide while Il Assets waited for a lane to open up.

(Finish- 1:48.29)- Sit back and watch A Storm Has Arrived run to the wire and win the race in a dominating fashion. The favorite delivers a two length win! Coming up for second was late running Il Assets, who had to wait a bit to find a lane, but once he did, he had a great stretch run, and that gets him second, topping Lucky Kommand who looked like that position was going to be his for most of the stretch. Hollywood Eclipse never made the four wide move work, but will be fourth, ahead of the fading The Chief and the never a factor Jakes Last Chance.

About The Winner- A Storm Has Arrived, trained by Maxmillion Farm and ridden to victory by G Franco, is a five year old gelding by Chrystal Ball, and is out of Stormy General. He was bred in Ontario by Maxmillion Farm as a first quarter two year old, and they have been together throughout! The win is his sixth in 16 starts, and his second graded win. His career earnings are now $595.750.

Track: Fast
Time: :48¹  1:11³  1:35⁴  1:48¹

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 3 Paid 16.90
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 3 – 4 Paid 148.30

Scratched: None

Winner picked by NS

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES