Motorious primed to regain top form in stacked Green Flash
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DEL MAR, Calif. – A veteran turf sprinter who is nearly as reliable as the Del Mar ocean breeze returns to his favorite stomping grounds Saturday in the Grade 2 Green Flash Handicap.
Motorious, come-from-behind winner of the Green Flash the last three years, will try to extend his streak in a race that will award the winner a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.
Ten are entered in the five-furlong Green Flash, and 124-pound topweight Motorious has his work cut out. Sumter is a Grade 3 winner who defeated Motorious in an allowance last month. Sorrento Sky, multiple stakes-placed, has improved since he was gelded. Comebacker Man O Rose has won six stakes, and speedster Monster will lead the field as far as he can.
The boss is 8-year-old Motorious, trained by Phil D’Amato. Motorious had been off more than six months when he returned July 19 in an allowance. The 10-win veteran pressed the pace and finished second by only three-quarters of a length. It was an ideal prep.
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“We got the rust off him last time. It was a pretty decent second,” D’Amato said. “We knew he was like 80 to 90 percent going into that race. We wanted him to peak for the Green Flash. I think he shaved a little weight off, which he needed to, so everything is kind of coming into plan.”
Motorious and jockey Antonio Fresu will rally from behind, same as D’Amato’s second starter. Sorrento Sky has never won a stakes, but that could change if he continues to progress. Sorrento Sky, a 5-year-old, was gelded in the spring.
“I think gelding him has really helped him,” D’Amato said. “He’d get a little hot in the paddock, didn’t have his mind on business like he should. Now, the gelding, he’s more focused, more professional. He’s ready to run a big one.”
Sorrento Sky was positioned farther off the pace than expected in the allowance. He rallied from seventh to third, only a neck behind Motorious. Umberto Rispoli rides Sorrento Sky.
Sumter defeated both D’Amato trainees in the allowance and is a better horse than last summer, when he finished eighth at 45-1 in the Green Flash. Richard Mandella trains 7-year-old Sumter.
“He’s just a very happy horse. He’s better than ever,” Mandella said. “We’ve had some pretty good 7-year-olds.”
Mandella trainees who won stakes at age 7 or older include Sandpit, The Tin Man, Bal a Bali, Region, and Big City Lights. Mike Smith rides Sumter, who won the Grade 3 San Simeon in March at Santa Anita.
Man O Rose is the top California-bred in training, having won 12 of 20. But the Green Flash is his first start since March, and he is marginally better on dirt.
Man O Rose bled slightly March 22 when finishing third in the Sensational Star at Santa Anita. He was turned out afterward.
Jeff Mullins trains Man O Rose, whose jockey and workout rider is Edwin Maldonado.
“Edwin works him. He won’t let anyone else work him,” Mullins said. He added that Man O Rose “is just very temperamental. [Maldonado] knows how to get him to settle.”
The Green Flash is the comeback prep for Man O Rose, whose main objective is the $75,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes on dirt Sept. 19 at Los Alamitos. Man O Rose won the E.B. Johnston the last two years by open lengths.
Kentucky shipper No Nay Hudson was third in the 2024 Green Flash and fourth in 2025, while Monster is in from Saratoga as the likely pacesetter. He missed by a neck last out racing 5 1/2 furlongs in the Grade 3 Quick Call at Saratoga.
Others in the field include entry-level allowance winner Mescalero, second-level allowance winner Virat, and the filly Saratoga Special.
The Green Flash, race 5 Saturday, has been won by the favorite each of the last six years.
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