Murrieta-bred horse wins $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint

California Flag, a locally bred 5-year-old gray gelding, owned by Murrieta resident Keith Card, won Saturday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita.

California Flag, ridden by 20-year-old jockey Joe Talamo, got a good start out of the third post and led the pack throughout most of the 6½ furlong race.

The Turf Sprint is a unique downhill race that takes place on grass, incorporates two winding turns, then transitions onto a dirt track. During training earlier this week on the Turf Sprint track, California Flag spooked on course and tossed his rider. While neither was hurt, there was concern whether the horse would settle down in today’s race.

Nerves, however, were never a factor. California Flag maintained his lead, and pulled away to finish at a Breeders’ Cup record pace of 1.11.28.

Behind California Flag was Gotta Have Her in second, and Cannonball in third.

Card, who had been breeding racehorses for more than 40 years, entered California Flag in the same race last year. In a field of 14, the Thoroughbred finished 10th last year with Talamo onboard.

This year Card picked Talamo to ride again and expectations were high that the young jockey could bring the odds-favorite horse, who is trained by Brian Koriner, to a first-place finish.

Card said that along with the horse’s maturity, Koriner’s training made a difference in this year’s race.

“He [Koriner] did a wonderful job with the horse,” Card told ESPN down in the winner’s circle.

“I love that horse,” he continued. “He’s the greatest I’ve ever bred.”

Card’s win Saturday hasn’t been his only stroke of good luck. While serving in World War II he was assigned to board a ship in San Francisco, but at the last minute his commander reassigned him. The fateful ship was tragically sunk by the Japanese and there were no survivors. The commander who summoned Card back was Richard Nixon.

“He saved my life,” Card said.

Toni McAllister is SWRNN’s lifestyles editor. You can e-mail her at toni.mcallister@yahoo.com.

Tags: Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, Brian Koriner, California Flag, Joe Talamo, Keith Card, Murrieta, Santa Anita, SWRNN, thoroughbred, Toni McAllister

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Arts & Entertainment, Lifestyle, Local News, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.