Motorious Bids for Green Flash Three-Peat at Del Mar

Motorious (GB) aims for a Green Flash Handicap (G3T) three-peat Aug. 30 when he faces an overflow field of turf sprinters on Pacific Classic day at Del Mar. Boss Sully, Coppola, Virat, and comebacking First Peace head the opposition. A lightly raced but efficient 7-year-old son of Muhaarar (GB), Motorious has used the Green Flash the past two years as a launching pad to Breeder's Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) participation. After his initial Green Flash victory by 1 3/4 lengths in 2023, he ran a close fifth behind Nobals in the Breeders' Cup that year at Santa Anita Park. In 2024, he won the Green Flash by a smaller margin of three-quarters of a length and then just missed in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, when second, beaten a neck by Starlust (GB) at Del Mar. He carried 123 pounds in his two prior Green Flash wins. He totes 125 pounds as the high weight in this year's renewal. The Breeders' Cup returns to Del Mar again this fall, and Saturday's race will again propel its victor into the five-furlong grass event via the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In. Anthony Fanticola's Motorious, a closer, is at his best at the seaside oval, having compiled a record of three wins in four local turf starts, all at Saturday's five-furlong distance. His only loss came in the aforementioned 2024 Breeders' Cup, and an earlier victory came in 2022 in the allowance optional claiming ranks before his ascent into the stakes ranks. This year, Motorious has made just one start for trainer Phil D'Amato, winning the Daytona Stakes (G3T) at Santa Anita June 14. Antonio Fresu returns in the saddle. D'Amato also runs midpriced contender Sorrento Sky (IRE), who finished third behind Boss Sully and Virat in a July 31 allowance optional claiming race positioned as a local prep for the Green Flash. Forgoing a lucrative start in a longer Kentucky Downs grass sprint to ship to Del Mar is Hammer Time Stable and S.O.K. Racing's six-time stakes winner Coppola, a five-furlong specialist. A shipper from Kentucky for trainer Dale Romans, the speedy Coppola most recently faded to be a close second in the Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Sprint Stakes at Ellis Park in a turf race over 5 1/2 furlongs. Coppola carries 121 pounds, including jockey Vincent Cheminaud. The Green Flash is one of two grade 3s, a pair of grade 2s, and a grade 1 on the Saturday program. It's carded as the ninth race, right before the Pacific Classic Stakes (G1). Baoma Corp. Fillies Imposing in Torrey Pines In the other grade 3, which goes as the sixth race, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert and owner Baoma Corp. hold a strong hand in the $150,000 Torrey Pines Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies. They have the favorite in four-time graded stakes winner Tenma, as well as the twice graded-placed Howin. Tenma, the top 3-year-old filly in California earlier this year, has not run since finishing fourth in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs. The Nyquist filly makes her return to Del Mar, where she scored on debut and added the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) at the end of last summer. Stakes winners A Thousand Miles and Om N Joy are two of the Baffert duo's five rivals.