Caracortado flies homes for Daytona victory

AJL Productions LLC, Blahut Racing LLC and Lo Hi Racing's Caracortado

was content to allow Regally Ready and Mr Gruff to duke it out on the

front end before coming with a tremendous rally in midstretch to score

by 1 1/4 lengths on the wire of Sunday's Grade 3, $98,000

Daytona Stakes at Santa Anita.

Regally Ready was quickest from the gate, but Mr Gruff slipped

through on the inside to show the way through splits of :21 2/5, :43 and

1:05 2/5. Regally Ready kept in close attendance to his rival's outside

on the backstretch and the pair headed home racing in tandem. As the

field entered the stretch, Caracortado was still 6 1/2 lengths behind

the leading Mr Gruff, but kicked into high gear, running down the

longtime pacesetters to finish up about 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:11 2/5 over

the firm downhill turf.

Victory Pete rallied to grab second over the tiring duo of Mr

Gruff and 7-5 favorite Regally Ready, who dead-heated for third.

"I knew I had a lot of horse so I didn't want to use him too early,"

said jockey Rafael Bejarano, who took over riding duties on Caracortado

from Joe Talamo. "I just tried to follow instructions from the trainer.

He told me before the race to wait, and as soon as I close the door that

I would have a good turn of foot from the horse. He said not to go too

early and just wait for one big run.

Caracortado ran his grass mark to 4-2-1 from nine starts with this one, but

is no stranger to main track success either. The five-year-old opened his career

with five straight wins on the main surface, breaking his maiden on the dirt at

Fairplex Park in 2009 before switching over to the synthetic surfaces at

Hollywood Park and Santa Anita. Caracortado maintained a perfect mark while

racking up wins in the California Breeders' Champion Stakes and Grade 2 Robert

B. Lewis Stakes, but then suffered his first loss when third in the Grade 2 San

Felipe Stakes.

The chestnut would go on to run fourth in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby and

seventh in the Preakness Stakes two years ago, then was given time off over the

summer. He became reacquainted with the winner's circle while making his grass

bow against optional claiming rivals in the fall of his sophomore season, then

posted a third-place run in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes, which marked a return to

dirt racing at Santa Anita.

Machowsky, who both bred and co-owns Caracortado, switched his charge back to

the turf following that start, with victory in the Sunshine Millions Turf his

reward. The gelding would visit the main track only once in 2011, finishing just

three parts of a length back in sixth in the Grade 3 Alysheba Stakes, while

placing in three Grade 1 contests -- the Frank E. Kilroe Mile, Shoemaker Mile

and Eddie Read Stakes. He added a win in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile Handicap to

his record in late August before cutting back to five furlongs for a try in the

Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, which saw him run three lengths behind the winner in

fifth.