Cost of Freedom, Unzip Me highlight Cal Cup Day

Soul Candy, a five-year-old gelded son of Birdonthewire, will attempt

to become the first back-to-back winner of the $175,000

California Cup Classic on Saturday when Santa Anita hosts the 22nd

running of the series of stakes races exclusively for California-breds.

Not only does the Paddy Gallagher charge face the challenge of

winning the festive day's centerpiece in successive years, he will have

to deal with a change in surface as the 1 1/8-mile contest is contested

on turf for the first time.

A total of nine races restricted to Cal-breds will get underway at 1

p.m. (CDT) with a Cal Cup T-shirt giveaway being offered to fans with

paid admission. Gates open at 11 a.m.

The deepest contingent of accomplished runners on the day will fight

it out in the $100,000

California Cup Sprint, which brings together Cost of Freedom, Bob

Black Jack and M One Rifle in a field of 10 going six furlongs. Cost of

Freedom won the event by 6 1/4 lengths last year, but he was not facing

the likes of the former two, who are past winners of the Grade 1 Malibu

Stakes.

M One Rifle won or placed in his first nine stats, including the 2009 Malibu,

but has been in the top three just twice in six starts since. One of those came

when he visited the winner's circle in the Cool Frenchy Stakes in early May at

Hollywood Park. The five-year-old One Man Army gelding trained by Bruce Headley

was second in this race in 2009 but is coming off a 119-day break into this

edition.

If Cost of Freedom is to repeat in the Sprint, he would become the event's

first two-time winner as well as the oldest at the age of eight. A son of Cee's

Tizzy, Cost of Freedom was claimed for $50,000 in the summer of 2008 and went on

during the fall to win the Grade 1 Ancient Title Stakes. The next year, he lost

the Breeders' Cup Sprint when third by a neck at Santa Anita.

John Sadler, who trained Cost of Freedom following his first claim, put him

in a race for a $32,000 claiming tag at Del Mar in September. He was haltered by

trainer Ed Moger Jr. out of that fourth-place finish and subsequently ran second

in an allowance event at Fairplex Park. Cost of Freedom is returning to Santa

Anita for the first time since a neck third in the Sunshine Millions Sprint in

late January.

Unzip Me finished third in last year's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint against the

boys at Churchill Downs, but her connections opted for the Distaff rather than

return for another run at the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on

November 5.

"She got black-type back there already," explained Marty Jones, who trains

the five-year-old daughter of City Zip.

Unzip Me has developed a keen affinity for Santa Anita's hillside turf

course, winning five of eight starts over the layout. She did falter in her last

appearance when losing by one length when fourth in the Grade 3 Senator Ken

Maddy Handicap, which marked the ultra consistent mare's first off-the-board

finish in her past 16 races.

Unzip Me's opposition includes Sugarinthemorning, a three-year-old Candy Ride

filly who won her only start over the course. Trained by Ron McAnally,

Sugarinthemorning captured the Manhattan Beach Stakes and Fleet Treat Stakes

over the summer. Also entered is Salty Sarah, who continues her ascent up the

class ladder after being claimed for $12,500 in September of last year. The

five-year-old Bertrando mare missed by a nose in the CERF Stakes in early

September and is in search of her fourth win in nine starts for trainer Bob

Baffert since the claim.