TALENTED COMEBACKERS RICHARD’S BOY, TRIBALIST & EDDIE HASKELL HEADLINE SATURDAY’S CALIFORNIA FLAG HANDICAP

By Mike Willman —-

#7 RICHARD’S BOY (Flavien Prat)
$150,000 Donald Valpredo California Cup Sprint
Owner: Rockingham Ranch
Trainer: Peter Miller
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Santa Anita Park
Arcadia CA.
© BENOIT PHOTO

RICHARD’S BOY (INSIDE)
Benoit Photography

TALENTED COMEBACKERS RICHARD’S BOY, TRIBALIST & EDDIE HASKELL HEADLINE SATURDAY’S $100,000 CALIFORNIA FLAG HANDICAP AT FIVE FURLONGS ON THE SANTA ANITA TURF

ARCADIA, Calif. (Oct. 18, 2018)—Fresh and ready. That pretty much sums up Saturday’s closing arguments for three top turf sprinters, Peter Miller’s Richard’s Boy, Blake Heap’s Tribalist and Mark Glatt’s Eddie Haskell, as they head a field of six 3-year-olds and up in the $100,000 California Flag Handicap at five furlongs over the Santa Anita turf.
All three have been idle since this past August and all three appear best suited at the newly created distance of the California Flag, which heretofore had been run at 6 ½ furlongs down the hillside turf course.
Bred in California by Keith and Barbara Card’s Hi Card Ranch, California Flag was a winner of the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita who would go on to earn more than $1.2 million. The California Flag is part of the lucrative Golden State Series for California-bred or sired horses.

RICHARD’S BOY
Owner: Rockingham Ranch
Trainer: Peter Miller
The 127 pound high weight and likely post time favorite, this 6-year-old Idiot Proof gelding is no doubt using the California Flag as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs. Second, beaten a head by stablemate Stormy Liberal in last year’s Turf Sprint at Del Mar, Richard’s Boy was most recently second, beaten a nose by “Stormy” in the five furlong turf Green Flash Handicap on Aug. 17. With a five furlong turf resume that reads 11-4-3-2, it looks like all systems GO with top rider Flavien Prat engaged.

TRIBALIST
Owner: Robert Abrams, Mitchell Dutko and Michael Paran
Trainer: Blake Heap
Best served when his races are spaced, Tribalist, a 7-year-old Tribal Rule gelding, opened up early and lost a heartbreaker to Stormy Liberal when beaten a nose in a five furlong turf classified allowance at Del Mar two starts back on July 25. Three weeks later, in the five furlong turf Green Flash, he didn’t show his customary zip and was never a factor while running sixth, beaten 2 ½ lengths. With two months between races heading into the California Flag, Tribalist, who will be ridden for the first time by Gary Stevens, should be back on his A-Game Saturday as he seeks his fourth win from six starts at five furlongs on turf. Lightly raced, he’s 11-4-3-2 overall with earnings of $272,715.

EDDIE HASKELL
Owner: Philip Wood and Jim Hailey
Trainer: Mark Glatt
Although his namesake was a fun-loving wiseacre, this 5-year-old Square Eddie gelding is all business at five furlongs on turf and although he has yet to prove he’s got the class of the top two, he comes off a game nose win in a second condition allowance Aug. 2 and could prove tough to beat in his third start off a $50,000 claim by Glatt on April 26. Competitive with the likes of both Richard’s Boy and Stormy Liberal in November, 2016 and April, 2017, “Eddie” will hope to be at his best on Saturday as he’ll be ridden back by Geovanni Franco, who guided him to the nose victory at Del Mar on Aug. 2. With five furlong turf mark of 5-3-1-1, he’s 13-4-1-3 overall with earnings of $207,123.

THE CALIFORNIA FLAG HANDICAP WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER
Race 5 of 9 – Approximate post time 2:30 p.m. PT

1. Tribalist—Gary Stevens—124
2. P Club—Evin Roman—118
3. Mason B—Brayan Pena—116
4. Richard’s Boy—Flavien Prat—127
5. Eddie Haskell—Geovanni Franco—122
6. Brandothebartender—Joe Talamo—120
First post time for a nine-race card on Saturday is at 12:30 p.m., admission gates open at 10:30 a.m. For additional information, please visit Santa Anita’s ‘Live Racing’ page, or call (626) 574-RACE.