Californian Stakes (Grade 3)- $200.000 Purse
SA- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
April 20, 2024

When Noble Faerie is on, he can run with just about anyone. This is something that he shown throughout his career, including his strong three-year-old campaign. He can also be inconsistent, and that makes it hard to throw a lot of support behind him. In the Californian Stakes, Noble Faerie seemed to be one of the better horses in the field, and he would bring his good side to the race to pick up a win by a length and a half. He is trained by Riggins Racing, and it’s the second win in the race for Riggins Racing, as he also won last year with Lets Celebrate. It was that victory that seemed to set Lets Celebrate in motion for what proved to be an outstanding year, so perhaps Noble Faerie can do the same. M E Smith is the winning rider, and he also had the mount for Lets Celebrate. Overall, it is his third win in the race, all coming in the last four years. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:47.77, which is a middle of the road such time. Let’s take a look at it:

(½ Mile- :47.44)- Five horses look to grab the early lead out of the gate, and as we move around the opening turn, three of them are a little quicker than the other two. Getting credit for the lead at first call is Flat Cup, who runs between horses for Fractious. A half length behind him on the inside is Darkest Night, for TwinTowersRacing, and on the outside, it is 4 Free, for Locked And Loaded. Settling into a stalking position behind them is where we find our eventual winner from Riggins Racing, Noble Faerie. Animal House runs right alongside him for Night Rider Stables. A length behind them, it’s Polymath (Gdp Inc) and Hot Dog (South Shore Stables). Further back, Jolly Rook (Angelos Stable) is the best of the rest, and the trailers are Troublesome Order (Alydar Stables) and Louisiana Asset (Big Jd Racing).

(3/4 Mile- 1:11.60)- Towards the end of the backstretch, Flat Cup is able to pull ahead of the two that had been on each side of him, and this will allow him to move over to the rail for the turn. Moving forward at this point in the race was Noble Faerie, and that had to be very encouraging for Riggins Racing. With a clear lane in front of him, he passed 4 Free to the inside, sending that one to third, and both Darkest Night and Animal House were in close proximity. Meanwhile, Polymath began to back out and Hot Dog wasn’t showing much. Jolly Rook led the back three, as both Troublesome Order and Louisiana Asset had not shown much yet.

(Top of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- Noble Faerie made progress on Flat Cup throughout the turn, and entering the top of the stretch, he would be the new race leader. Flat Cup was hanging tough and still second, and creeping forward as well would be Animal House. These three had an advantage of a length and a half on the rest of the field. Four of the them were lined up behind them, but none of them (Polymath, 4 Free, Darkest Night and Hot Dog) had shown much yet. The others were lined up behind them, consisting of Jolly Rook, Troublesome Order, and Louisiana Asset.

(Finish- 1:47.77)- Early in the stretch, this race looked like it belonged to Noble Faerie, as he pulled away from Flat Cup and Animal House was not able to make any progress on him. Approaching the wire, this would only be confirmed even more as Noble Faerie impressively goes on to win by a length and a half. Animal House hangs on for second over the very late running Troublesome Order and Louisiana Asset. Each of them waited way too long to hit their best stride. Hot Dog is fifth, over Polymath, Jolly Rook and the very disappointing in the stretch, Flat Cup. 4 Free and Darkest Night were soundly beaten.

About The Winner- Noble Faerie, trained by Riggins Racing and ridden to victory by M E Smith, is a four-year-old gelding by Nobled Gold and is out of Faerie Fae. He was bred by Chubby Racing as a yearling in California, and was acquired by Riggins Racing in February 2023, for $200.000 in private sales from Williams9. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his eighth in 23 starts, his fifth stake win and third graded win. His career earnings are now $828.900.

Track: Fast
Time: :47²  1:11³  1:35³  1:47³

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 10 – 7 Paid 736.70
$1 Trifecta: 10 – 7 – 6 Paid 668.50

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES