Kruljac father, son divide weekend duties for Finest City

ARCADIA, Calif. – The itinerary is set, one that covers the nation from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to suburban Los Angeles with Kruljac men.

On Saturday, when Finest City starts in the $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita, trainer Ian Kruljac will saddle the mare in her first start since an upset win in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November.

Across the nation, his father, Eric, will be overdressed, by his standards, appearing on behalf of his son and client Tyler Seltzer at the Eclipse Awards at Gulfstream Park in Florida.

“I didn’t wear a tuxedo to his wedding,” Eric Kruljac said last weekend.

Eric Kruljac will be in Florida hoping to hear Finest City’s name announced as the outstanding sprint female of 2016. Ian Kruljac would be at the Eclipse Awards if the event was on another day.

“Dad will be there,” he said last weekend. “He will do his part, do his job.”

Ian Kruljac does not want to leave Finest City’s side on a race day. He knows how fortunate he is to train the 5-year-old, who has won 4 of 14 starts and earned $925,594.

“I don’t take it for granted,” he said. “I know it may never happen again. It’s pretty special.”

At 28, Ian Kruljac has just three horses in training while assisting his father, who has 16 horses.

Finest City was Ian Kruljac’s first runner the day she won a maiden race at Del Mar in August 2015 in her second start. Finest City was second in her debut a month earlier when officially trained by Eric Kruljac.

Finest City was second in the Santa Monica Stakes last year and gave Ian Kruljac his first stakes win in the Grade 2 Great Lady M Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs at Los Alamitos last April. She ran three more times before the BC Filly and Mare Sprint, including a third behind the champions Beholder and Stellar Wind in the Grade 1 Vanity Mile at Santa Anita in June and a second, beaten a head, in the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Del Mar last September.

In the BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita, Finest City started in her first sprint since the Great Lady M. At 8-1, she disputed the lead throughout and won by three-quarters of a length over Wavell Avenue, the winner of the 2015 BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland.

“I thought she’d open up and kick away,” Kruljac said. “I knew she was willing to fight. When she gets to the lead, I don’t think she’ll give it up.”

The victory was a milestone for Kruljac but was somewhat lost in the hustle of a busy Breeders’ Cup Saturday. An hour later, Arrogate and California Chrome finished first and second in a brilliant BC Classic, a race that dominated the day.

With the start of 2017, Kruljac is looking forward to Finest City’s comeback on Saturday. There are tentative plans to follow a similar race schedule as last year, with a mix of sprints and races at about a mile on dirt and turf.

Through the year, Kruljac hopes his stable will include more runners than Finest City and stablemates Willing to Travel, the winner of a $10,000 claimer on Dec. 29, and the maiden claimer Old Horse Coop.

“I’m ready for more horses,” he said.

Kruljac, who was raised in Phoenix, grew up in the sport watching his father’s operation but delayed his direct involvement while attending the University of Arizona, where he took part in the school’s racetrack study program. He did not graduate.

“Chemistry kicked my ass,” he said.

Kruljac came home for Christmas one year and did not go back to Tucson, instead going to work at the track, first for trainer John Shirreffs and then his father.

“It was a big lifestyle change,” he said. “I had no money. I had to work instead of sleeping in the frat house.

“There was nothing else I wanted to do.”