Boss Sully impresses with California Flag Handicap victory

ARCADIA, Calif. - Boss Sully made quite a first impression on Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Smith rode Boss Sully for the first time in the $101,000 California Flag Handicap for statebred turf sprinters. Boss Sully tracked pacesetter Flyover in the stretch and won by a length, paying $10 as the third choice.

“He’s an amazing horse,” Smith said as he left the winner’s circle. “What a first-class horse, talk about push-button.

“He did everything right – at least today.”

Boss Sully, trained by Brian Koriner, ran about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course in 1:12.83.

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Flyover (7-2) set a moderate pace of 22.42 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 44.42 for a half-mile, leading by a length over Flyover when the field crossed from the hillside course to the main turf oval.

Boss Sully took the lead with slightly more than a furlong remaining.

Flyover was ridden by Emisael Jaramillo, who said Boss Sully was a pesky presence through the race. “It was pressure, pressure, pressure,” Jaramillo said.

Flyover finished a half-length in front of Lonesome Stew, the 8-5 favorite. Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Lonesome Stew closed from last and was closest to the front at the finish.

“They didn’t go as fast as I expected,” Rispoli said of the pace. “He made up some ground. He still ran a good race.”

On the Whim finished fourth, followed by Big City Lights, Steak Fries and Chromeflash. Big City Lights, the 4-1 fourth choice, is a six-time stakes winner who raced on the hillside turf course for the first time in his 19th start on Saturday.

Boss Sully, a 6-year-old gelding by Street Boss, races for the partnership of Rusty Brown, Alan Klein and Phil Lebherz. The California Flag was Boss Sully’s second stakes win this year, preceded by the Siren Lure Stakes at six furlongs on the flat turf course here on May 10 in his first start of the year. Boss Sully was last of eight in the Harvey Pack Stakes at Saratoga on July 5 and was found to have bled in the race, Koriner said earlier this week.

Koriner won the California Flag Handicap for the first time on Saturday. He trained California Flag, who won 11 of 27 starts and earned $1,288,825 in a six-year career from 2007 to 2012 highlighted by a win in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita in 2009.

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