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Rail Trip wins for fun in Californian
Sangaree (Awesome Again), who vainly pursued Rail Trip in the Mervyn LeRoy H. (G2) last out, settled for second once again. The 11-1 second choice yielded $5.20 and $3.40 while capping the $5 exacta ($1). The 40-1 Slew's Tiznow (Tiznow) checked in another half-length back in third, returning $6.20. The $1 trifecta paid $66.80, and with Spurrier (Dixieland Band) rallying for fourth at 17-1, the $1 superfecta was worth $315.90 (7-6-2-4). Next came Cigar Man (Drewman), One Track Mind, Tres Borrachos (Ecton Park) and Aitcho (Stormy Atlantic). Rail Trip now boasts a sterling mark of 11-8-2-1 to go along with a bankroll of $967,790. The bay opened his career with a five-race winning streak, capped by a photo-finish decision in the 2009 Santana Mile H. at Santa Anita. His relative lack of experience told in his next two starts at Hollywood that spring, where he wound up second in the Mervyn LeRoy and Californian. Rail Trip accelerated rapidly on his learning curve and put it all together in last summer's Hollywood Gold Cup, powering to a three-length victory in track-record time. He concluded his campaign with a third in the Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar. Ellis mentioned that he hoped to avenge his Mervyn LeRoy and Californian defeats this time around, and Rail Trip has accomplished that objective with ease. A 3 1/4-length winner in his return in the May 8 Mervyn LeRoy, he followed up with a similarly dismissive performance here. "The nice thing about him is that he's almost turned into a mile and one-quarter horse," Ellis said. "He knows where the running starts and he's really strong down the lane. For the Gold Cup (last year) he was real calm, but he had kind of settled down by then. As the year went on, he got better and better with things. "This year, he's bigger and stronger and heavier. He's matured a lot. He's a real versatile horse, and that's going to come in handy at some point. When he won the Gold Cup, he was at the end of a lot of races. "This year, by purpose, we wanted to bring him in and point for the Breeders' Cup and have him ready for the second half of the year." Bred in Kentucky by Donarra Thoroughbreds, Rail Trip was purchased by his owners for $200,000 at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July Sale and is the first foal from the winning Carson City mare Sweet Trip, whose latest foal is a two-year-old filly by Stormy Atlantic. Sweet Trip is out of stakes winner Stellar Affair (Skywalker). Although his immediate family is short on graded laurels, Rail Trip descends from the same family as English champion sprinter Flirting Around (Round Table), who scored his biggest career victory in the 1975 King's Stand S. (Eng-G1).
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