Motorious punches BC Turf Sprint ticket with Green Flash
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DEL MAR, Calif. - The Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap for turf sprinters at Del Mar on Saturday was run in a predictably hectic fashion.
It may have been the perfect trial for winner Motorious in advance of an expected start in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 4. The two races are run at five furlongs on turf.
Motorious earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf Sprint with his second stakes win of 2023 in the $153,500 Green Flash Handicap.
Ridden by Geovanni Franco, a late replacement for a sidelined Umberto Rispoli, Motorious closed from seventh in a field of 12 with a wide rally to win by 1 3/4 lengths over 22-1 Cherubic Factor.
Beer Can Man (6-1) finished third. The first- and third-place finishers are trained by Phil D’Amato.
Franco had worked Motorious a few times, but was aboard the 5-year-old gelding for the first time in a race in the Green Flash.
Breaking from post 7, Motorious raced wide on the turn while seventh. Continuing wide, Motorious rallied to be within a length of the lead with a furlong remaining and drew away quickly.
“It was a matter of when to ask him to go,” Franco said.
Motorious ($7.20) was timed in 56.07 seconds in his first start since a fast-closing second in the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on May 6. Motorious earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 103.
Cherubic Factor, a former $50,000 claimer, had his stakes debut in the Green Flash Handicap.
“That was a big race,” trainer Peter Eurton said. “He’s a horse that was running for $50,000 at one time.”
Eurton was left impressed by Motorious.
“That’s probably the Breeders’ Cup winner right there,” Eurton said, looking toward the winner’s circle. “He will be difficult to beat. He’s so fast.”
Turn On The Jets, also trained by D’Amato, finished fourth, followed by Lane Way, Bus Buzz, Bran, Silent Poet, Fast Buck, Packs a Wahlop, Helladic, and Kid Corleone.
Helladic ran the opening quarter-mile in 21.74 seconds but faded on the turn.
Motorious, a 5-year-old British-bred gelding by Muhaarar, has raced for Tony Fanticola since early 2022. Motorious was a minor handicap winner on the synthetic track at Wolverhampton Racecourse in September 2021.
Since joining D’Amato’s California stable, Motorious has won 4 of 8 starts, including the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita on March 5.
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