Second Summer Breaks Through in Californian

A day after he took some harsh criticism for his ride aboard Nyquist in the May 22 Preakness Stakes (gr. I), Mario Gutierrez deftly guided Second Summer to an upset victory in the $200,000 Californian Stakes (gr. II) back at his home base at Santa Anita Park.

It was the 4-year-old Summer Bird gelding's first graded victory in just his second try—the first was a fourth-place run on the grass in the 2015 Twilight Derby (gr. IIT)—and his third consecutive win for trainer Peter Eurton.

In the 1 1/8-mile dirt test, his first try at the distance on the main track, Second Summer raced in fourth on the rail through most of the race, but moved up to third entering the final turn, patiently waited on the rail in the bend for his chance to pounce, and blew by favored Lieutenant Colonel to take command at the top of the stretch.

“When I saw him at the three-eighths pole, he just looked like he was loaded," Eurton said. "It looked like he was going to get boxed in for a second (by Lieutenant Colonel and Point Piper) and when Mario made the move to go in between the two of them, that was just such a great, money move."

The 4-5 favorite set the pace, with fractions of :23.09, :46.52, and 1:10.59 through six furlongs, but was no match for Second Summer  Sunday. Grade I winner Hard Aces closed from last in the field of six to pass Lieutenant Colonel in the final strides, but never was a danger of getting to the winner. Second Summer ran a mile in 1:35.59 and hit the wire in 1:48.29, a length clear of Hard Aces.

"I just did what (Eurton) told me—try to put him in a good spot and save the best for the end," Gutierrez said after the race.

And about the Preakness critics?

“That’s horse racing," the rider said. "After the race, everybody has an opinion on everything that happened. The horse came out of the race good and it looks like we’re going to run in the Belmont.”

The winner paid $20.80, $8.80, and $4.20 across the board. Hard Aces brought $5.40 and $2.60, and Lieutenant Colonel returned $2.60 to show.

Point Piper finished fourth, ahead of Follow Me Crev and El Huerfano, to complete the order of finish. Crittenden was scratched.

Second Summer came into the Californian off back-to-back conditional allowance victories at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos Race Course. He has a 4-2-1 record from 13 starts, with $270,610 in earnings for the ownership group of Sharon Alesia, Ciaglia Racing, Marc Ferrell, and Slam Dunk Racing.