Johnny Podres, Fast Buck back quick in California Flag Handicap
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ARCADIA, Calif. – As it turned out, a $750,000 turf sprint two weeks ago at Santa Anita was too tough for a pair of veteran California-breds who finished off the board.
No worries. Be right back.
Fifteen days after running five-six in the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes, Fast Buck and Johnny Podres wheel back Sunday on the same downhill course in the $100,000 California Flag Handicap.
Front-runner Fast Buck and late-runner Johnny Podres top the California Flag, a 6 1/2-furlong turf sprint for California-breds. Class relief, yes. Easy spot, no.
Six of nine entered in the California Flag are stakes winners, including vastly improved On the Whim and five-time stakes winner None Above the Law. But the turnarounds Fast Buck and 125-pound topweight Johnny Podres are the ones to beat, despite short rest.
“I feel confident bringing [Johnny Podres] back in two weeks,” trainer Librado Barocio said. “I monitored him for the first week to make sure that he was back to his old self, and he came back to himself really quick.”
Johnny Podres’s weight assignment is based on two hillside stakes wins this spring. At age 7, Johnny Podres is the old man in the California Flag. And it seems he knows the difference between winning and losing. He finished sixth in the Eddie D after breaking from the rail.
“He came back mad at himself, in his stall with his ears pinned back,” Barocio said. “I know we’re in the same post position, but [jockey Umberto Rispoli] knows him, and the right path.”
The post did not get Johnny Podres beat last time. It was the competition. Johnny Podres saved ground behind eventual winner First Peace, rallied inside, and missed by 3 3/4 lengths. A nine-time winner of $539,650 from 41 starts, Johnny Podres can win Sunday if he can catch likely pacesetter Fast Buck, who carries 124 pounds.
Cesar DeAlba trains Fast Buck, gate-to-wire winner of the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes on the hill in March 2023 before being sidelined for nearly one year. Fast Buck was rounding into form coming into the Eddie D, but there was a hiccup. Fast Buck is stabled at Los Alamitos.
“I took him [to Santa Anita] a week early, and he quit eating on me,” DeAlba said. Fast Buck set the pace to deep stretch in the Eddie D, but tired to finish fifth. “I brought him back [to Los Alamitos] the same night, and he ate up, and he’s been eating good and training good since.”
This time, DeAlba plans to ship Fast Buck from Los Alamitos to Santa Anita on race day. The trainer said the blinkers-off experiment last out made no difference. The gelding will be re-equipped with blinkers Sunday.
“He just needs a loose lead,” DeAlba said. He should get it. Fast Buck, 5 for 13, figures to set the pace Sunday under jockey Diego Herrera.
On the Whim, third in a highly rated turf mile last out at Del Mar, has improved significantly since finishing sixth in a pair of entry-level allowance downhill sprints in spring. Dean Pederson trains 3-for-8 On the Whim, who won the $150,000 California Dreamin’, a turf route, in summer at Del Mar. Tiago Pereira rides On the Whim.
As for None Above the Law, he was not intended for the California Flag. Sixth in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, None Above the Law was targeting the Grade 3 Tokyo City Stakes last weekend, but the 1 1/2-mile dirt race was scrapped when only three entered.
Jorge Periban trains None Above the Law, a 9-for-41 late-runner back for his third attempt in the California Flag. He finished second in 2022, and third in 2023. Mike Smith rides None Above the Law.
The others in the field are Barely Funtional, Hacking It Up, Last Call London, Big Bet Jafinsafa, and So I’m Told.
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