Flores Comes Up Big in Californian

Jockey David Flores won the richer of the two stakes run at Hollywood Park on Saturday and nearly won the other.

Flores won the $250,000 Californian for the second time in three years with 5-1 surprise Dixie Meister in a Grade II race that was fast early and slow late.

The win came two races after Flores and A.P. Warrior were beaten by a nose by 3-2 favorite Point Determined in the $100,000 Affirmed Handicap.

Owned by Gary Tanaka and making his third start for trainer Julio Canani, Dixie Meister, a 4-year-old Holzmeister gelding, won for the first time since the Star of Texas on Nov. 19 at Sam Houston.

The final time for the 1 1/8 miles was 1:49.53, with the last three-eighths of a mile run in a slow 38.44 seconds.

Super Frolic, a 9-2 shot, finished second, one length behind Dixie Meister and half a length in front of That’s An Outrage, the longest shot in the field at 35-1. Spellbinder, the 2-1 favorite, finished sixth after engaging in a speed duel with Yes He’s A Pistol for most of the race.

In the Affirmed, Point Determined rebounded from a poor try in the Kentucky Derby, where he finished ninth, and responded to the energetic handling of jockey Victor Espinoza, who was aboard the 3-year-old Point Given colt for the first time.

Prevailing for the third time in eight starts for the Bob and Beverly Lewis Trust and trainer Bob Baffert, Point Determined ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.55.

“He’s just kind of a lazy horse,” said Espinoza, after his third victory in the Affirmed since 2000. “You have to keep tapping him all the way. He will not do it on his own.”

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Seek Gold, the longest shot in the field at 91-1, rallied from last under Calvin Borel and beat 10-1 outsider Perfect Drift by a nose in the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs.

Winless in his previous nine races since the beginning of 2005, the 6-year-old Touch Gold gelding, who was making his first start for trainer Ron Moquett, completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.24 for owner Bowman Couch Racing LLC. West Virginia was third and Buzzards Bay, the 7-5 favorite who was seeking his third graded stakes victory in a row, was fourth under jockey Jose Valdivia Jr.

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In other stakes races, Take D’Tour won her fourth in a row, beating Nothing But Fun and five others in the $300,000 Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont Park, and at Churchill Downs, winners were Brilliant ($200,000 Jefferson Cup), High Cotton ($200,000 Northern Dancer Breeders’ Cup), Lady Of Venice ($200,000 Regret), Happy Ticket ($300,000 Fleur de Lis) and My Typhoon ($100,000 Mint Julep).