2002 Cal-bred News

$250,000 Cal Cup Classic
CALKINS ROAD

ARCADIA, Calif. (Nov. 2, 2002) -- Calkins Road, the only horse in the field to have won a stakes at the distance, caught Continental Red at the wire Saturday to win the featured $250,000 California Cup Classic at Oak Tree at Santa Anita.

The 3-year-old son of Illinois Storm, out of the Lost Code mare Little Code, was bred by owners Thomas and Deborah Shapiro and foaled at Rocking Horse Ranch. Little Code's 4-year-old son by In Excess, Ultra Code, won a claiming race at Bay Meadows an hour earlier. Ultra Code also was bred by the Shapiros.

Calkins Road's only previous stakes win was the Apr. 28 $250,000 Snow Chief Stakes on Gold Rush Day at Hollywood Park, making him the first horse to parlay wins in the two richest California-bred races in the same year. He also finished third to Came Home in the Grade III Affirmed Stakes June 23.

In eight career races, Calkins Road has three wins and $383,880 in earnings. Jockey Laffit Pincay scored his second win of the day and third Cal Cup Classic win. John Shirreffs was the winning trainer. Calkins Road went off at odds of 10-1 and ran the 1 1/8 miles on dirt in 1:49.16.

"He got the lead coming down the stretch and I think he pulled himself up," said Pincay. "He started waiting. (Continental Red) went by us really fast and I didn't know if I was going to be able to recuperate. Sure enough, he kept coming and kept trying, and I kept trying hard with him left-handed, and little by little, he came back and got the job done.

Continental Red, a graded-stakes winner on turf trying dirt in preparation for the Sunshine Millions, had the lead in midstretch but was outfinished by the winner and was second best. Slippery When Bet was third.

"(Continental Red) got bumped by four different riders, including the winner," said Ian Jory, the runner-up's trainer. "He ran huge. We got what we wanted out of the race, but we'll look for a race for him before (the Sunshine Millions)."

Lukewarm favorite Grey Memo had an extremely unlucky trip with traffic trouble in the stretch and was fourth. Hot Market, the second choice, reared at the break and was not a factor.