Race No. 7 at Santa Anita Park on Feb. 24 Analysis

by Bodog Racebook | Mar 1 2011

Bodog's Race of the Week was Race No. 7 at Santa Anita Park on Feb. 24. It was an allowance race for 3-year-olds willing to go 6 ½ furlongs over turf. Metropolitan Man, Diamond Geezah and Easy Ticket were among those on hand vying for the $63,000 purse.

Race favorite Metropolitan Man, with Patrick Valenzuela aboard, was away first at the start but was overtaken by the first point of call by Tale of Lucknfame, ridden by Alonso Quinonez. Joe Talamo, piloting Diamond Geezah, settled his mount in third place while Easy Ticket and Victor Espinoza followed in fourth. Bringing up the rear early on in the race was Memen, with Corey Nakatani in the irons.

At the second point of call, Tale of Lucknfame had increased his lead to 1 ½ lengths over Metropolitan Man while Talamo had angled Diamond Geezah to stalk the pace along the inside still in third. Into the stretch, Diamond Geezah made his move, slowly reeling in the leaders to lead by 1 ½ lengths; Tale of Lucknfame faded to fourth. Meanwhile, Metropolitan Man and Easy Ticket remained one-two. But Easy Ticket was moving well and, after a four-wide move, began to move up. He passed Metropolitan Man – who did not have an ideal trip into the stretch – and set his sights on Diamond Geezah in deep stretch. But Diamond Geezah, under strong urging from Talamo, was able to hold on for the victory by a mere nose. Metropolitan Man was 2 ¼ lengths back in third and was followed to the wire by Grand Maneuver (David Flores), Celestic Night (Martin Pedroza), Memen, Machisa (Brice Blanc) and Tale of Lucknfame, who weakened to finish last.

Diamond Geezah, an Irish-bred son of Diamond Green, is trained by Mike Mitchell and completed the course in 1:14.05. He garnered $37,800 for owners Jungle Racing and Daniel Capen, boosting his career total to $72,074 and his record to 2-2-2 in 10 starts. Diamond Geezah was third in his last outing, behind Celestic Night and Metropolitan Man, in an allowance optional claimer at Santa Anita Park on Jan. 13.

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