2003 Cal-bred News

Cal Cup Oldies are Goodies

ARCADIA, Calif. (Oct. 30, 2003) -- As California Cup XIV approaches, it may seem that some of the runners taking part in the 10-race series at Santa Anita Nov. 8 go back to Cal Cup I in 1989.

Not quite, but close.

The likely presence of 10-year-olds Men’s Exclusive in the Donald Valpredo Cal Cup Sprint and Native Desert in the John C. Mabee Mile on turf adds compelling evidence to the staying power of the Cal-bred.

“We’re proud of the fact that so many horses bred in the state have campaigned for so long,” said Doug Burge, executive director of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association. “And the Cal Cup gives owners and breeders good financial incentives for horses to have long careers.”

Both Men’s Exclusive and Native Desert can break the record for oldest Cal Cup winner this year. His Legacy was 9 when he won the Cal Cup Starter Handicap for the third time in 1994, following triumphs in the race in 1991 and 1992 and a runner-up finish in 1993.

Native Desert will be seeking his third score in the Cal Cup Mile, having previously won in 1999 and 2001.

One of Men’s Exclusive’s opponents in the Sprint will be Full Moon Madness, who won the event as a sprightly 5-year-old in 2000 and will seek a second victory as a venerable 8-year-old.

Though most members of the older set are geldings, some are future stallions. Notable among this group are Irisheyesareflying, winner of the Cal Cup Classic in 2001, who was an early nomination to both the Classic and Mile this year, and Spinelessjellyfish, the runner-up in the last two runnings of the Mile. Both are now 7.

If there’s one horse that seems impervious to the advances of age and the rigors of multiple surgeries, it’s Sky Jack, also a 7-year-old.

Little more than a year after his third major knee surgery, Sky Jack, bred and owned by Ren-Mar Thoroughbreds of Temecula, will try to recapture the Cal Cup Classic title he won in 2000.

“He just loves to run,” said Cathy Lambert, the daughter-in-law and business manager of Rene and Marge Lambert, who are her in-laws. “There’s no place he’d rather be than on the racetrack. We’ve been thinking for months about running him in the Cal Cup again.”

Winner of the Grade I Hollywood Gold Cup in 2002, Sky Jack came out of last year’s Pacific Classic with bone chips in his right knee that required surgery to remove.

“He’d had a similar surgery a year and a half before,” Cathy Lambert recalled. “We didn’t know how he’d come out of this last one.”

From every indication, the procedure performed by noted arthroscopic surgeon Dr. Wayne McIlwraith at the Equine Medical Center near Los Alamitos, has been an unqualified success. After bowing in his return to competition, his first attempt on grass, the son of Jaklin Klugman has won his last two races.

On Aug. 24, he set the track record at Emerald Downs in winning the Longacres Mile. The victory was only part of his remarkable turnaround.

“That was the first tine he’s left the state of California,” Lambert said. “We were a little nervous about flying him to Seattle because you never know how they’ll react. But he loved the trip. It was a happy time for him. We’ll keep him racing as long as he shows he can compete on a high level.”

The roster of Cal Cup oldies isn’t limited to males. Cee’s Elegance will be one of the favorites in the CTT/TOC Cal Cup Matron Handicap.

Runner-up in the inaugural Sunshine Millions Matron at Gulfstream Park in January, Cee’s Elegance is expected to end her racing career with another Sunshine Millions appearance when the Sunshine Millions Matron moves to Santa Anita on Jan. 24, then will be retired at age 7 to begin her new life as a broodmare.

If she wins the Cal Cup Matron, she would be the oldest mare to do so.
-- Larry Bortstein