Mother of Dragons stays perfect in NorCal races
Mother of Dragons kept her perfect record in Northern California intact with a strong stretch run that produced a victory in the $54,650 Camilla Urso Stakes on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields.
The 4-year-old filly has won all three starts at Golden Gate Fields and her debut at the Sonoma County Fair. She finished third in an allowance at Los Alamitos and sixth in the Kalookan Queen Stakes at Santa Anita.
Owner-trainer Andreas “Andy” Psarras bought Mother of Dragons as a yearling in 2015 for just $3,000.
“I got away with a nice one,” he said. “Sometimes they let the little guys do something good.”
Psarras has owned horses for about 30 years with the late Tony Diaz as his trainer and took out his own license in 2016. He also has owned San Francisco’s Seal Rock Inn restaurant since 1974.
“Both jobs take a lot of work,” he said.
Julien Couton rode Mother of Dragons for the first time Saturday but has been working her the past three weeks.
“She was working absolutely terrific,” Couton said. “I expected good things today, and she gave me everything she’s got. She’s versatile, but today the plan with all the speed was to sit back and make one run.”
Cash Prize set a good pace in the 6-furlong race (22.25 and 45.00 seconds) with Cuyathy and Alliford Bay in close pursuit. Cash Prize shed them to take a 1½length lead in midstretch, but Mother of Dragons, who had been in sixth place for the first half-mile, ran her down to win by a half-length.
Alliford Bay, the 19-to-10 favorite in the field of nine, finished another half-length back in third.
Sadly, Cash Prize broke down just after the finish line and was euthanized. Her jockey, Rocco Bowen, was thrown to the track and sustained possible fractures to his back and rib cage. He was transported to Highland Hospital for an examination.
Jockeys Pedro Terrero and Silvio Amador were thrown from their mounts trying to avoid Cash Prize but escaped injury.
Briefly: Golden Gate Fieldsbased Mended ran another excellent race, but she had to settle for second in the Grade 1, $401,725 Santa Margarita Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita. It was Mended’s second straight second-place finish in a stakes at Santa Anita after winning 10 straight races. Fault ($9) won the Santa Margarita by 6½ lengths. … Also at Santa Anita, Miss Sunset ($3.60) collected her eighth stakes victory with a front-running romp by 7 lengths in the $100,345 Irish O’Brien Stakes. Trained by Jeff Bonde, Miss Sunset has won nine of 15 starts overall and has earned $738,735 for Bay Area owners Alan Klein and Phil Lebherz. … Golden Gate Fields-based Mugaritz opened a long lead in the Grade 3, $202,400 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park but faded to fifth as Blended Citizen ($14.40) won.