Flamboyant flies outside to take La Puente

ARCADIA, Calif. - With a furlong remaining in Saturday’s $79,750 La Puente Stakes at Santa Anita, Flamboyant was fourth, racing behind Diamond Bachelor, Home Run Kitten, and Enterprising.

Flamboyant had little racing room at a pivotal point, leaving trainer Paddy Gallagher and co-owner Chuck Winner to lead desperate cheers to the colt and jockey Corey Nakatani.

“I wanted religion,” Gallagher said. “I needed a hole to open up there.”

“I thought, you’ve got the horse,” Winner said. “Find a route.”

With no space between runners, Nakatani guided Flamboyant to the outside of the leading trio. Through the final sixteenth, Flamboyant ($15) rallied to finish a neck in front of Home Run Kitten in the turf race for 3-year-olds. Flamboyant ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.45, winning his American debut.

“He had to run to catch that horse,” Gallagher said.

Home Run Kitten, a 3-1 shot who looked like a winner in the stretch, finished 1 1/2 lengths in front of Enterprising, the 6-5 favorite. Enterprising rallied three-wide on the turn, and was as close as second in the stretch. Enterprising did not pose a threat in the final sixteenth.

Enterprising won two turf stakes earlier in the meeting - the Eddie Logan Stakes in December and the Pasadena Stakes on March 22.

Excessive Kid finished fourth, followed by Life’s Journey, Diamond Bachelor, On Draft, and Argentine.

Flamboyant was fifth for the first six furlongs, behind pacesetter Diamond Bachelor, who set fractions of 23.97 and 47.95 seconds. Nakatani moved Flamboyant closer to the leaders entering the stretch before finding racing room.

Flamboyant is a French-bred colt by the Sunday Silence stallion Peer Gynt, a Japanese-bred.

Co-owned by Winner, the chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, and David Bienstock, Flamboyant was purchased privately in late January. He has won 3 of 7 starts and $92,788. The La Puente was Flamboyant’s second win on turf. He beat maidens at Marseille-Borely, France, last September. Last November, Flamboyant won an allowance race on an all-weather track at Pornichet, France.

Winner and Gallagher indicated that Flamboyant will be pointed for turf stakes at Del Mar this summer.

“He’s got the right kind of attitude,” Gallagher said.