Capture the Flag Springs the Upset in Mac Diarmida

 A son of Quality Road   and grade 1 winner War Flag , the regally bred Capture the Flag  handled the jump to stakes company with aplomb with an upset victory in the $200,000 Mac Diarmida Stakes (G2T) March 1 at Gulfstream Park.

A first-level allowance winner, the Joseph Allen-bred Capture the Flag entered the 1 3/8-mile turf contest as a 17-1 outsider and the less heralded of the two Todd Pletcher-trained runners. Capture the Flag's stablemate, stakes veteran Grand Sonata , was bet down as the 3-1 second choice. The duo ended up giving Pletcher the best result he could hope for, crossing the wire 1-2 in a dramatic dogfight to the finish.

"I knew it was going to be close," Pletcher said. "I knew I was going to feel bad for one of them."

Taking a page out of Beach Bomb 's book following her gate-to-wire win in the earlier The Very One Stakes (G3T), jockey John Velazquez hustled Capture the Flag straight to the front from his inside 3 post. The pair maintained a clear advantage past fractions of :24.02, :49.58, and 1:14.29 before raising the stakes turning for home. Battling down the lane with a rail-skimming Cash Equity , Capture the Flag had just enough left to outlast a challenge from his late-rallying stablemate for his first stakes victory.

"(The instructions were) go and make the lead if he can the right way and if not take it from there," Pletcher said. "He was in a super gallop, he was moving really well and I could tell he was really happy and he kept going and going and going and showed some courage from there."

Capture the Flag ($35.80) stopped the timer in 2:12.90, a head better than Grand Sonata, who saved second by three-quarters of a length over Cash Equity in third.

Race favorite and multiple graded stakes winner Missed the Cut , making his first start for the Cherie DeVaux barn, finished sixth after being forced to shuffle back after being shut off around the first turn.

Five-year-old Capture the Flag races for the colors of his breeder, Allen, who also campaigned his graded stakes-winning half sister Personal Best  (Tapit  ), in addition to co-owners Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Jonathan Poulin.

Capture the Flag gives top Lane's End stallion Quality Road his first graded stakes winner for the year. Quality Road stands the 2025 breeding season for a fee of $150,000 in Kentucky.

Beach Bomb fires off first U.S. win in The Very One Stakes

South African grade 1 winner Beach Bomb broke through with her first United States win with a gate-to-wire score in the $150,000 The Very One Stakes.

One of a group of horses from South Africa that journeyed to the U.S. last winter, Beach Bomb endured a lengthy quarantine and joined trainer Graham Motion's Fair Hill Training Center string with an eye on the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T). The then 4-year-old mare had earned an automatic starting slot in her native country when capturing the 2024 Paddock Stakes (G1).

Returning to training, the Cayton Park Stud runner put in two efforts, each race better than the next, culminating with an eighth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup. However, it wasn't until Saturday's The Very One that the hard-trying Beach Bomb would land her elusive first stateside win.

Although Beach Bomb had never gone to the front in her last three starts, jockey Luis Saez fearlessly guided the daughter of Lancaster Bomber  to the lead and the pair showed the way through opening fractions of :24.17 and :50.48. With his mount a willing participant, Saez slowed the pace down even further as the field crawled by the six-furlong marker in 1:16.05. Hitting the top of the lane with plenty left in the tank, Beach Bomb opened up on her rivals and roared home her final furlong in :11.65.

Holding sway by a length under the wire, Beach Bomb ($9.40) completed the 1 3/8 miles in 2:14.03 over a firm turf course.

"She didn't get beat that badly (in the Breeders' Cup). We liked her," Motion said of Beach Bomb. "Everything had to go perfectly to get to the Breeders' Cup. We gave her a little break after that to let her catch up with herself and settle in. Things went well for this race."

The Bill Mott-trained Immensitude , who sat a stalking rail trip throughout, closed to get second by a half-length over second choice La Mehana .