So Conflated snatches California Derby

The white silks with purple stripes worn by jockey Mario Gutierrez for trainer Doug O’Neill and owner J. Paul Reddam are a familiar sight in the winner’s circle of derbies of all qualities.

And there the colors were again Saturday after So Conflated won the $100,450 California Derby at Golden Gate Fields.

Not only have Gutierrez, O’Neill and Reddam won the Kentucky Derby twice — with I’ll Have Another in 2012 and Nyquist in 2016 — but Saturday’s victory was also their second in a row in the California Derby.

So Conflated came into the 11⁄16-mile California Derby off of two maiden sprints, finishing third going 6 furlongs at Del Mar and being placed first via disqualification after finishing a close second going 7 furlongs at Santa Anita.

“We always thought this horse had a lot of potential, but it’s just taken him a while to come along,” Gutierrez said. “I think he has a chance to be really good.”

With 6-to-5 favorite Vending Machine and Secret House — an O’Neill-trained stablemate of So Conflated — dueling for the lead on fast fractions through 6 furlongs, the race set up for come-from-be-hinders.

More Power to Him actually got the jump on So Conflated as he rallied strongly outside from fifth place on the second turn to take the lead in mid-stretch. So Conflated came from fourth place and was briefly stuck behind the two tiring leaders at the top of the stretch before Gutierrez swung him into the clear.

Then So Conflated took off, and he finished three-quarters of a length ahead of More Power to Him — a 12-to-1 shot and one of two local horses in the field reduced to seven with the scratch of Aberdeen Island.

“My horse really showed his ability when I asked him, but the other horse was just a little bit better,” said Alejandro Gomez, who rode More Power to Him.

So Conflated went off as the 3-to-1 second choice and finished in 1:44.71.

“I was a little worried there for a while, but when he got clear I asked him and he was all business,” Gutierrez said.

Leandro Mora, O’Neill’s longtime assistant, has worked closely with all of the stable’s top horses, and he was at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday.

“This horse has ability but he was a little immature,” Mora said of So Conflated. “He’s not a Nyquist type. This horse you have to babysit; Nyquist babysat himself. It’s taken a lot of work to put him on the right track.”

The track for So Conflated probably will run through the Grade 3, $200,000 El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 21 at Golden Gate Fields. Frank Conversation won both the California Derby and the El Camino Real Derby last year.

“We’d like to do a repeat of last year, but it’s up to Doug,” Mora said. “This is a time when you start looking for big things. Derby fever is right around the corner, and why not us?”