Stevens's patient ride helps Catch a Flight capture San Diego Handicap

DEL MAR, Calif. - Catch a Flight beat Appealing Tale by a head to win Saturday’s $200,500 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar, a race in which the winning move was arguably a decision jockey Gary Stevens made on the backstretch.

When Bayern, the winner of the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Appealing Tale were fighting for the lead, Stevens resisted the temptation to go after the pair until the turn.

“They really picked it up on the backstretch,” Stevens said. “When they went, I thought, ‘I have to wait.’ ”

Third entering the stretch, Catch a Flight went past Bayern in the final sixteenth and caught Appealing Tale in the final strides to win the Grade 2 San Diego in dramatic style.

“He loves a target,” Stevens said. “He had a target. He seems to know where the wire is.”

Catch a Flight ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.08.

The stretch run gave winning trainer Richard Mandella a few anxious moments.

“I thought maybe they weren’t going to stop,” he said of the pacesetters.

Appealing Tale, second in the Grade 1 Triple Bend Stakes for sprinters at Santa Anita on June 27, finished 1 1/4 lengths in front of 7-5 favorite Bayern, who was followed by Hoppertunity, Sahara Sky, Sammy Mandeville, and Majestic City.

The San Diego was Bayern’s best result this year after last-place finishes in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on May 2 and the $1,250,000 Metropolitan Mile Handicap at Belmont Park on June 6.

“It was a little disappointing that he got tired,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “He’s moving forward. He needed to show us something.”

A 5-year-old Argentine-bred horse by Giant’s Causeway, Catch a Flight is owned Julio Bozano’s Haras Santa Maria de Araras. Catch a Flight has won 10 of 17 starts and earned $573,239.

Catch a Flight has won three of his last four starts, a span that includes wins in the Grade 3 Precisionist Stakes and Grade 2 Californian Stakes at Santa Anita in May, but a third as the 8-5 favorite in the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 28 behind Hard Aces and Hoppertunity.

Stevens rode Catch a Flight in the Gold Cup and said earlier this week he regretted his ride, saying that he moved a too soon to keep pace with a rival. Stevens was more patient in the San Diego. The result gives Catch a Flight a leading role for the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 22, the track’s richest race.