California Burrito digs deep to win John Battaglia Memorial

California Burrito refused to yield when challenged down the homestretch of Saturday’s $175,000 John Battaglia Memorial S. at Turfway Park, digging deep to prevail by half a length over Baby Max.

Held at a distance of 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta, the John Battaglia Memorial awarded Road to the Kentucky Derby qualification points on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis to the top five finishers. Following the scratches of First Resort, Calling Card, and Brereton’s Baytown, 11 horses faced the starter.

Coming off a gate-to-wire win in a $62,500 allowance optional claimer at Turfway, California Burrito started as the 7-2 second choice behind Leonatus S. winner Baby Max, the 2-1 favorite. Both colts ran well and put on a great show down the homestretch, though the outcome wasn’t precisely as bettors expected.

California Burrito broke just a step slowly under jockey Irving Moncada, but recovered to duel with longshot Maitre D through an opening quarter-mile in :24.50. California Burrito then widened his advantage to as much as one length through splits of :49.41, and 1:14.03. Baby Max was content to track the tempo three-wide in third position.

Rounding the final turn, Baby Max advanced to challenge and appeared to briefly take the lead. But California Burrito battled back even while drifting out and took home top honors in 1:45.98 seconds.

“His last race, he got an easy lead and did everything on his own, so we really didn’t know a lot about him,” said winning trainer Tommy Drury Jr. “Tonight, he made the lead very easily again, but the way he battled back against Baby Max told us a lot. He has a lot of fight in him. He doesn’t need the lead—he’s worked behind horses in the morning.”

“He’s been working lights out in the morning,” said Moncada. “I was very confident in him coming into the race. The plan was to be aggressive early to get him into a good spot, and he took me right to the lead. He was doing it very easily on his own most of the race. I’m very impressed with how he battled back down the lane. I think the future is very bright for him. I see no problem with him stretching out in distance from today.”

Baby Max ran gamely in defeat, pulling 5 1/2 lengths clear of third-place finisher Maximum Promise. Banks and Studlydoright rounded out the top five, followed by Coming in Hot, Shan, Special Caliber, King of Ashes, Maitre D, and Spirit Rags.

Bred in Kentucky by Westbrook Stables, California Burrito sold for $60,000 as a yearling and races for the partnership of Aaron Haberman and Victoria Haberman. He’s accumulated three wins and one second from six starts, good for earnings of $222,941.

With 20 Kentucky Derby (G1) points under his belt, California Burrito debuts in 11th place on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.