Despite a hard battle up front for the entirety of the trip, Ailshie,
Gaylord, Harris, et al’s UNFURL THE FLAG (Bertrando) proved much the best in
Sunday’s $350,000
Triple Bend H. (G1) at Hollywood Park. The bay gelding broke
from the far outside post under jockey Corey Nakatani and contested the early lead with Forest Grove
(Forestry), passing the first point of call in a
rapid :21 4/5. Forest Grove made a run to grab the lead after four furlongs in
:43 4/5, but relinquished the advantage back to the David Bernstein-trained
Unfurl the Flag as the field entered the stretch.
After zipping six furlongs in 1:07 4/5, Unfurl the Flag had drawn off to a
1 1/2-length lead and crossed under the line two lengths clear. The contest then turned to who would be second,
with McCann’s
Mojave (Memo [Chi]) maintained the runner-up position by a half-length over Saint Afleet
(Northern Afleet) and Forest Grove. Those latter two were overtaken by 60-1 longshot Bear in the Woods (Formal Gold), who rallied gamely to catch McCann’s
Mojave at the wire, resulting in a dead heat for second.
Unfurl the Flag completed the seven-furlong affair in 1:20 4/5 on a track listed
as fast.
The five-year-old winner returned $13.40, $6.80 and $5.40 at 5-1. Bear in the Woods
returned $18.80 and $20.40 while McCann’s Mojave gave back $4.20 and $4.80 at
5-1. The $1 exotics paid $20.20 (exacta) and $747.80 (trifecta) while Saint Afleet
rounded out the 14-12-10-7 superfecta which paid $10,876.20.
Harvard Avenue (You and I), Areyoutalkintome (Smokester), 5-1 favorite Mass
Media (Touch Gold), Taste of Paradise (Conquistador Cielo), Tsigane (Fr) (Anabaa),
Forest Grove, Ender’s Shadow (A.P. Indy) and Saint Buddy (Saint Ballado) rounded
out the order of finish. Roi Charmant (Evansville Slew) stumbled at the start,
unseating rider Victor Espinoza, who was not injured in the accident. St Averil
(Saint Ballado) was scratched.
Unfurl the Flag was bred in California by Mr. and Mrs. Martin Wygod and is
out of the unraced Storm Cat mare Escape the Storm. He is a full brother to an
unraced two-year-old named West Coast Kitty and an unnamed yearling filly. This
was Unfurl the Flag’s first graded win and he now owns a 18-6-3-4 record with
$520,407 in earnings.