Coalinga Road finds elusive first stakes win in Unusual Heat
ARCADIA, Calif. – A decades-long business relationship between breeder John Harris and trainer Carla Gaines celebrated another success on Saturday at Santa Anita, where Coalinga Road won the $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic.
A 6-year-old gelding owned and bred by Harris, trained by Gaines and ridden by John Velazquez, Coalinga Road scored a neck victory over unlucky runner-up Aligato. The win allowed Harris and Gaines a walk down memory lane. Harris gave Gaines her first horse to train in the 1980s, a low-level claiming horse named Glory Quest.
Gaines and Harris never looked back. Their relationship spans more than three decades; they have teamed for numerous stakes wins with horses such as Closing Remarks, Lucky J.H., Super High and Coalinga Road.
Gaines was emotional in the winner’s circle, reflecting on her relationship with Harris Farms, the John Harris-owned breeding farm that is one of the most successful in California.
“This means the world,” Gaines said, talking about the win and Harris. “Someone told me one time about owners in this industry. There are those that have fired you, and those who have not fired you yet. That’s not the case with him.”
Coalinga Road ($8.60) added another chapter to the uninterrupted owner-trainer relationship. The gelding’s first stakes win was a long time coming. A 6-year-old, Coalinga Road was making the 18th start of his career in the 1 1/8-mile Turf Classic.
Velazquez positioned him fourth behind the slow pace (49.50 half-mile, 1:13.87 six furlongs), swung outside for the drive, hit the front and held by a neck over Aligato. Luvluv finished another neck back in third. Carmelita’s Man, the 2-1 favorite, finished seventh.
Harris purchased the dam of Coalinga Road at a Kentucky auction for $75,000. Harris said the mare Coco Ecolo was in foal to Quality Road at the time of the purchase. Harris brought Coco Ecolo to California and bred her back in California, thereby making Coalinga Road eligible to run against California-breds. Coalinga Road has now won four races and $360,600 from 18 starts.
Aligato saved ground midpack, was blocked on the far turn and into the stretch, and missed by a neck in a race he might otherwise have won.
The stakes win by Coalinga Road was the second on the card for Gaines. Earlier Saturday, she won the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint with Big Summer.
*** The mandatory-payout pick six on Saturday began with a jackpot pool of $275,876 and generated new money of $2,311,782. There were 840 winning tickets; the 20-cent wager returned $2,429.74.
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