The $250,000 Malibu S. (G1), Monday’s opening day feature at Santa Anita,
provided an upset in exciting fashion as Tricar Stables’ homebred PROUD TOWER
TOO (Proud Irish) re-rallied in deep stretch for a one-length score in his
graded debut. Dismissed at 20-1 in the seven-furlong test for foals of 2002, the
bay colt sprinted to the early lead between rivals and established splits of :22
1/5 and :44 1/5 with the 5-2 favorite, Attila’s Storm (Forest Wildcat), in hot
pursuit to his outside. The pacesetter appeared beaten as Attila’s Storm edged
past approaching the eighth pole, getting six furlongs in 1:08 3/5, but Proud
Tower Too battled back gamely to retake the advantage, finishing in 1:21 3/5
over the fast track and providing trainer Sal Gonzalez and rider David Cohen
with their first Grade 1 victory.
A wire-to-wire winner in his previous start, the On Trust H. on December 4,
Proud Tower Too had raced exclusively against fellow California-breds in his
previous five stakes attempts and cleared a major class hike on Monday, knocking
off several well-regarded rivals in the 14-horse Malibu. Surprisingly, though,
no other members of the field were even a factor through the stretch drive.
Thor’s Echo (Swiss Yodeler) finished 3 3/4 lengths behind the runner-up and
Shamoan (Ire) (Monashee Mountain) trailed by another 2 1/2 lengths in fourth.
Next under the wire came Unbridled Energy (Unbridled’s Song), Osidy (Storm Cat),
Greeley’s Galaxy (Mr. Greeley), Diligent Prospect (Diligence), Ninety Fine
(Event of the Year), Jack’s Wild (Lil Tyler), Wilko (Awesome Again),
Alexandersrun (Sweetsouthernsaint), Fusaichi Rock Star (Wild Wonder) and Yes
He’s a Pistol (Yes It’s True).
The winner paid $42.20, $15 and $8.60 and the runner-up totaled $4.80 and
$3.80. Thor’s Echo, who showed speed from the start before weakening at 8-1,
gave back $5.20. The $1 exotics returned $88 (exacta), $475.60 (trifecta) and
$5,471 for the 6-4-2-5 superfecta.
With the $150,000 payday, Proud Tower Too improved his earnings to $349,014
from a 16-5-3-1 line. He’s out of the winning Dora’s Tower (Irish Tower) and
counts 2000 Hollywood Prevue S. (G3) hero Proud Tower, a three-time stakes
winner who was voted the 2000 California-bred two-year-old of the year, as a
full brother as well as the five-year-old Proud Cardenal, a two-time stakes
victor in 2005.
“I’m not surprised he got so good because I know his background, I know his
family and I know he’s a good horse,” said Gonzalez, who earned his first graded
stakes win in 28 years of training. “I had a lot of hope for this horse. I
always hoped he’d develop into something special and he has. I’ll take it one
race at a time. I don’t want to plan his next race right now. This is my biggest
win.”