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Citronnade gives them the slip in San Gorgonio Stronach Stables' homebred CITRONNADE (Lemon Drop Kid) dictated the race from the outset and powered home a convincing three-length winner of the $150,000 San Gorgonio H. (G2) at Santa Anita on Sunday. Trained by Bobby Frankel and piloted by David Flores, the four-year-old broke alertly from her inside post and carved out splits of :23 3/5, :47 3/5, 1:10 2/5 and 1:34 for the opening mile, before flying home and leaving little doubt as to who was best on this occasion. The final time for the nine furlongs over firm turf was 1:46 4/5, and the 9-2 shot paid $11.20, $7.20 and $4.20. "She's won on the lead before and I was able to get a good position today," Flores said. "When we got to the three-eighths (pole), I wasn't going to wait for anybody. I just let her roll and she ran a great race." New York invader Rahys' Appeal (Rahy) saved ground on the rail early and rallied well when clear in a nice runner-up performance. Sent off at 13-1, the mare completed the $61.60 exacta ($1), while paying $13.60 and $7. Three Degrees (Ire) (Singspiel [Ire]) rallied from last while wide to complete the $192.80 trifecta ($1) (1-2-6) and pay $2.40 as the 6-5 favorite. Grande Melody (Ire) (Grand Lodge) was another head back as the 4-1 second choice, and was followed by Beautyandthebeast (GB) (Machiavellian), Strong Faith (Pioneering) and Ready to Please (More Than Ready). Citronnade earned her third turf stakes win, having previously scored in the Audrey Skirball-Kenis S. and Graceful Darby S. The bay filly now sports a mark of 8-5-2-0 with earnings of $252,800. Her lone grass setback came in the Queen Elizabeth II Invitational Challenge Cup S. (G1). "She's a runner," explained Frankel, who earned a record eighth San Gorgonio score. "She disappointed me on the dirt, so I said she's got to be a grass runner. I think she's going to be a very good filly as we go down the road." The winner was bred in the Bluegrass State and is the fourth black-type winner produced from the stakes-winning Primarily (Lord at War [Arg]). The winner counts Canadian champions Poetically (Silver Deputy) and Primaly (Alydeed), as well as Grade 3 winner Whiskey Wisdom (Wild Again), as half-siblings. Citronnade also has an unraced three-year-old half-sister named Stella Prima (El Prado [Ire]) and an unnamed two-year-old half-sister by Red Bullet.
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