Coppola supplemented to Green Flash
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Three factors contributed to Coppola being supplemented to Saturday’s Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap at Del Mar, the veteran runner’s first appearance in California.
“It’s five-eighths, firm turf, and the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Dale Romans said on Monday morning.
The $150,000 Green Flash at five furlongs is the leading turf sprint of the Del Mar summer meeting. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at five furlongs on Nov. 1.
Coppola was supplemented for $1,500 and has been assigned 121 pounds, four less than topweight and expected favorite Motorious, who has won the race the last two years.
Coppola, a 6-year-old horse by Into Mischief, has won 11 of 34 starts and earned $996,436. He has started at 12 tracks since his career began in July 2022 with a win in a maiden race at Delaware Park.
Owned by Hammer Time Stable and S.O.K. Racing, Coppola is a six-time stakes winner, including five stakes at five furlongs on turf since the beginning of 2024.
In his last start, Coppola finished second by a neck in the $250,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Sprint at 5 1/2 furlongs at Ellis Park on Aug. 3. Coppola set a fast pace before losing his advantage in the final strides to Bear River.
“He ran a big race at Ellis Park,” Romans said. “I think five is his best distance and firm ground is his best surface.”
The Green Flash is one of five stakes on the top card of the summer meeting at Del Mar.
The Grade 1 Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles on dirt is the day’s leading race. The field is expected to include the 3-year-old Journalism, winner of the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in May and two other Grade 1 stakes this year, in his first start against older horses such as the multiple graded stakes winners Fierceness and Nysos.
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