$175,000 John C. Mabee Cal Cup Mile
DRAKE’S VICTORY

ARCADIA, Calif. (Nov. 6, 2005) – Drake’s Victory closed with a rush to take Sunday’s $175,000 John C. Mabee California Cup Mile at Oak Tree at Santa Anita.

Drake’s Victory is a 4-year-old gelding by Victory Gallop, out of the Slew o’ Gold mare Atocha Queen, was bred by Dany Levy and Jeffrey DeHaven, is owned by Levy, training by Julio Canani and he gave jockey Corey Nakatani his second stakes win of the day.

“He finished up awesome, just awesome,” said Nakatani. “He’s got a great turn of foot to him. He’s proven when he runs fresh, he’s great.”

Drake’s Victory has four wins in 14 starts with earnings of $288,036. He was sent off at odds of 5-1 and won by a half-length, running the mile on turf in 1:33.85. This was his first stakes win and it came off a 2 ½-month layoff.

“This horse, he loves to run fresh,” said Canani. “He’s a little bit coo-coo though, this horse, but he can really run. We’ll look for a mile race. If he does well, we may think about Dubai.”

The winner bobbled at the start, saved ground down the backstretch, came out turning for home and rallied through the stretch. Longshot Orbits World, full brother to 2003 Mile winner Lennyfromalibu, was second and Running Free was third.

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