Catch a Flight Secures No. 2,000 for Mandella
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It was a special day three-fold for the connections of Catch a Flight May 2 at Santa Anita Park .
With an off-the-pace run to victory in the $100,000 Precisionist Stakes (gr. III), the Argentina-bred 5-year-old son of Giant's Causeway won his first graded stakes, earned jockey Flavien Prat the same accomplishment, and delivered victory No. 2,000 to Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella .
"It's good, but it took a long time," Mandella, 64, said of the milestone. "I did it one inch at a time—42 years. This didn't come overnight."
Richard Mandella celebrates win number 2,000.
Favored at 7-5, Catch a Flight and Prat—a 22-year-old French rider who recently made Southern California his home—sat in fifth, behind opening fractions of :22.88, :46.11, and 1:10.63 set by Mystery Train. He moved up between horses during the second turn of the 1 1/16-mile test, took over the lead in the stretch, and held off a closing run by Sammy Mandeville to win by three-quarters of a length. Motown Men was 1 1/4 lengths back in third.
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"I had a lot of horse on the far turn," Prat said. "When I got a good spot, I let him run. When he got the lead, he waited a little bit—he was doing it so easy. I split horses easy, because I had a lot of horse."
Catch a Flight ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.22 over a dirt course rated fast and brought $4.80, $3.20, and $2.40 across the board. Sammy Mandeville delivered $7.80 and $4.60. Motown Men paid $3.20 to show.
"Flavien rode him like the champ that he is, so it was really great," Mandella said.
Owned and bred by Haras Santa Maria de Araras, Catch a Flight improved to 8-0-3 from 14 starts, with six of those victories coming in Brazil. Last time out, he was third in the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I), behind Shared Belief and Moreno. His earnings now sit at $273,239.
Blue Tone rallied to finish fourth, followed by Magic Mark, Rousing Sermon, Mystery Train, and Fury Kapcori, who was last year's Precisionist winner. Appealing Tale was scratched.
Catch a Flight is out of Lode mare Callaia.