Capture the Flag leads all the way in the Mac Diarmida (Coglieanese Photo)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Joseph Allen LLC, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor et al’s Capture the Flag led throughout and held on for a narrow win in the $215,000 Mac Diarmida (G2) at Gulfstream Park on Saturday.
The victory for jockey John Velazquez was his 114th all-time stakes win at Gulfstream, tying Jerry Bailey for the track record.
The 29th running of the 1 3/8-mile Mac Diarmida for 4-year-olds and up on the grass was the ninth of nine stakes, eight graded, worth $2.15 million in purses on a blockbuster 14-race program headlined by the $415,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) for 3-year-olds.
Capture the Flag, allowed to leave the gate at odds of 16-1, controlled the pace in the 1 3/8-mile turf stakes and barely held off late-closing stablemate Grand Sonata for a head victory, with third place going to Cash Equity.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, the victory for the 5-year-old horse was his third (first in a stakes) in 11 lifetime races. Pletcher also trains the runner-up, Grand Sonata. Winning time was 2:12.90.
$215,000 Mac Diarmida (G2) Quotes
Winning trainer Todd Pletcher (Capture the Flag): “(The instructions were) go and make the lead if he can the right way and if not take it from there. He was in a super gallop, he was moving really well and I could tell he was really happy and he kept going and going and going and showed some courage from there. When they all ganged on him and the top of the stretch and kicked on again. I knew it was going to be close. I knew I was going to feel bad for one of them.”
Winning jockey John Velazquez (Capture the Flag): ““Todd asked me, ‘Do you think you can make the lead?’ I said, ‘I don’t think so, but I can come out of there running and see if I can make it.’ He’s a really tough horse, real aggressive, so I said if I’m going to make the lead I’m going to have to get in his mouth. I made sure I went to the first turn running, and he was pretty decent on the lead. He wasn’t too crazy pulling me.”
