California Frolic wins tight finish in English Channel Stakes
California Frolic got up in the last few strides to edge Bob Marco, Our Town Road and Merlin in a blanket finish in the $75,000 English Channel at Gulfstream Park Saturday.
The winning margin in the one-mile race on turf for 3-year-olds was a neck over Bob Marco, who edged Old Town Road by the same margin. Merlin was another neck behind in fourth.
California Frolic paid $16 and posted a final time of 1:36.66 over a course rated firm.
The race was hand-timed with no interior fractions available.
With Edgar Perez aboard, California Frolic bided his time from along the rail while Old Town Road set the pace under pressure from Merlin and Bob Marco. He angled off the rail going into the stretch turn, swung wide coming out of the turn and finished with a rush to get up in time. Bob Marco pressed the pace while going three and four wide, held a short lead late, but could not hold off the winner. Old Town Road was game in defeat while just missing.
It was the first stakes win for California Frolic, a Kentucky-bred colt by California Chrome who was running on turf for the first time.
He is trained by Armando De La Cerda and races for Julian J. De Mora Jr.