Cal Cup

Saturday, Oct. 28th Oak Tree at Santa Anita.

$100,000 TVG Cal Cup Distance Handicap
SPECIAL HEATHER

ARCADIA, Calif. (Oct. 28, 2006) – Lightly raced second choice Special Heather pulled past odds-on favorite Moscow Burning in the stretch to win Saturday’s $100,000 TVG California Cup Distance Handicap for fillies and mares at Oak Tree at Santa Anita.

Special Heather is a 5-year-old by Truckee, out of the Silver Hawk mare Hawk’s Heather, was bred by Eagle Oak Ranch and is owned by Melanie and Gary Thompson. The $4,000 Barretts purchase broke her maiden for $25,000 with an 18-length win a year ago.

This was her seventh start, first in a stakes and fourth consecutive win, raising her earnings to $134,990. She was trained by Patrick Gallagher, ridden by Alex Solis and she ran the 1¼ miles on turf in 2:00.45, the fastest clocking in the five times the race has been run at this distance. She is unbeaten in three turf tries.

Special Heather, at odds of 5-2, won by one-half length over the fast-closing Fortunate Event, with Janzig Moon edging Moscow Burning for third.

The race is expected to be the farewell of Moscow Burning, the all-time leading earner among Cal-bred females and two-time winner of the Cal Cup Distance Handicap. Moscow Burning is catalogued to be sold at Keeneland next month.