Tadahiro Hotehama’s T. H. APPROVAL (With Approval) was able to capture his
second-consecutive running of the $250,000
San Juan Capistrano Invitational H.
(G2) on Sunday. The five-year-old gray rated near the back of the pack under
jockey Alex Solis as Wild Buddy (Line in the Sand) reeled off splits of :46 1/5,
1:10 1/5, 1:36 4/5 and 2:03 3/5 before the Eduardo Inda-trained winner took over
the contest. Cooming into the lane four wide, T. H. Approval passed rivals on the outside in
upper stretch under urging, going 1 1/2 miles in 2:29. He was just able to hold
off the late-running One Off (GB) (Barathea [Ire]) by a length, finishing the 1
3/4-mile marathon test in 2:45 1/5 on the firm turf.
“We had a great trip,” Solis said. “He was so good today. Eduardo has done
such a great job with him. I love this horse; he’s so great to ride. Eduardo
gets all the credit. He is such a cool horse and that’s good for this kind of a
race because he relaxes very well.”
T. H. Approval left the gate as the 6-5 favorite to pay back $4.40, $2.80 and
$2.40 while leading $1 exotics of $10.60 (exacta), $34.70 (trifecta) and $359.50
for the 11-8-2-5 superfecta. One Off returned $4.40 and $3.60 for the place as
the 5-1 second-favorite while Quinquin the King (Fr) (Take Risks) gave back
$3.60 for the bronze position another 1 3/4 lengths back.
Totally Platinum (Dynaformer) ended the superfecta and was followed under the
wire by Wild Buddy, Sort it Out (Out of Place), Bullistic
(Holy Bull), Misto Quente (Brz) (Royal Academy), Golden Rahy (Rahy), Modern Era
(Aus) (Marscay), Mino Ona (Arg) (Flag Down) and Capitano (Belong to Me).
Balustrade (Green Dancer) was scratched from the contest.
“He had a very good trip and it was a good ride,” Inda commented. “I saw when
he got position he was in good shape. I was very happy and it’s very nice to win
a race like this. We don’t know yet (as to what race is next).
We’ll see what happens.”
T. H. approval is the first horse to win back-to-back editions of the San Juan
Capistrano since Niarkos accomplished the feat in 1967-68 and is only the fifth
horse with back-to-back victories in the history of the race.
Bred in Kentucky by his owner, T. H. Approval is out of Argentinean Group
1 winner Potrichal (Arg) (Potrillazo), whose most recent foals include a
2006 full sister to the winner as well as a half-brother yearling by Pleasant
Tap. T. H. Approval had two second-place outings to begin the year, losing by
just three parts of a lengths in the San Luis Obispo H. (G2) in February and by
a length prior to this one in the San Luis Rey H. (G2) last month. This was his second
stakes win, the previous being last year’s edition of this race, and he improved
his record to 22-5-5-4 with earnings of $564,288.