Caribou Club continued a standout weekend for Glen Hill Farm and trainer Tom Proctor with a 1 1/4-length score in the US$200,000 Seabiscuit Handicap (G2T) Nov. 24 at Del Mar.
A day after Chicago Style made a wide move to take the Hollywood Turf Cup (G2T), Caribou Club saved ground under jockey Joe Talamo through much of the 1 1/16-mile turf test, angled out into the clear at the top of the lane, and surged by longshot frontrunners Secretary At War and Kenjisstorm.
"Good trip all the way around," Talamo said once the 4-year-old City Zip gelding finished the distance in 1:41.38 after Kenjisstorm set a pace of :23.75, :47.81, and 1:12.37 through six furlongs. "He was a lot closer up this time (than his last start, a third in the grade 3 Eddie D Stakes at Santa Anita). ... When I asked him, he had a great turn of foot.
"I used a saddle (recently retired Hall of Fame jockey) Gary Stevens' gave me today. When he retired, he gave me one of his saddles, and one to Mike Smith and one to Drayden Van Dyke. Now I know why he won all those stakes."
Caribou Club's stalking trip served him well, unlike favored Synchrony's. The 8-5 choice still rallied well wide to finish third, a head behind Secretary At War, but was too far back in the final turn to challenge the winner late.
"It's turf racing—what are you going to do?" said Synchrony's jockey, Joe Bravo, who also teamed with trainer Michael Stidham to win the US$100,000 Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3T) with Elsa earlier on the Saturday card. "You love it and you hate it at the same time."
Big Score closed from 10th to finish fourth, 1 1/4 lengths behind Synchrony, and was followed by Kenjisstorm, He Will, Ohio, Pincheck, Le Ken, Madame Stripes, Ann Arbor Eddie, and Holiday Stone, to complete the order of finish.
Bred by Glen Hill in Florida out of the Broken Vow mare Broken Dreams, Caribou Club now has US$444,744 in earnings, a 6-2-4 record from 16 starts, and two grade 2 wins. His first came in the June 2 Connaught Cup Stakes (G2T) at Woodbine.
"I hot walked this horse's seventh dam for my dad (trainer Willard Proctor) and trained from about the fifth dam on," Proctor said. "It's nice to win one. This is a good horse."
