ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 17, 2026) – With defending champ Big City Lights a race-day scratch, odds-on favorite Man O Rose ran his win streak to four with a devastating nine-length romp in Saturday’s $125,000 Don Valpredo California Cup Sprint Stakes for Golden State Series eligibles at Santa Anita.
Man O Rose is by Stanford, out of the Good Journey mare Katherine Rose, was bred by owner B & B Zietz Racing Stable and trained by Jeff Mullins.
“I have been waiting 30 years for this,” said Dr. Bruce Zietz. “I have been breeding the whole family since the eighties, so it is quite a culmination of dreams, if you will. Today is a day that California breeders and their horses get to excel. You have to look at the amount of money spent on really good horses, four, five, six hundred thousand dollars. It is pretty hard to make a profit on those horses. These horses here, you may only have ten or twenty thousand dollars in them, so if you make a profit like this, it is a big profit.”
Man O Rose has 11 wins in 18 starts, earnings of $572,965 and ran the six furlongs in a quick 1:08.68 after fractions of :21.85 and :44.10. Man O Rose went off at odds of 4-5.
Longshot Drop Um was second, Speedy Wilson third and Book Smart fourth.
“He’s a tough dude,” said jockey Edwin Maldonado. “I have to thank Mullins for this horse, he has been a big supporter of mine from day one, 2010. Also, thanks Doc as well, he has been a big supporter since day one.
“I’m just a passenger on this horse. He just wants to do it his way, and he is going to do it his way. He is getting better. He showed when he won on turf (California Flag Oct. 11), he showed that he can run on turf, a mile, or short. He’s really a nice horse. “
According to Santa Anita Publicity, assistant trainer Gary Mandella said Big City Lights was injured when he grabbed a quarter during training and “ripped a shoe off,” which tore out a chunk of his foot.