ALBANY, Calif. (May 14, 2016) – Central Heat successfully defended her title in Saturday’s $61,025 Golden Poppy Stakes for fillies and mares at Golden Gate, extending her win streak to seven.
Central Heat is by Unusual Heat, out of the Smart Strike mare Miss Boomtown, was bred by Abrams, Huston Racing, Matties Racing and Auerbach, is owned by William Delia or Dana Rocheford and is trained by Delia.
She has 15 wins in 34 starts, earnings of $364,101. Central Heat ran the 1 1/16 miles on turf in 1:43.54 and won by one-half length as the 7-10 favorite in the field of eight.
The 2016 Golden Poppy was one of two wins on the card for Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze, who was returning from a four-week absence. Baze, who leads all jockeys with 12,814 wins in North America, suffered a right collarbone fracture in a spill April 16.
After leaving from post position 1, Central Heat raced five lengths off the pace in sixth through an opening half-mile in 47.82 seconds. She came outside to launch her rally on the far turn, drew even with Chocolatier in midstretch and asserted herself to prevail by half-length. It was an additional three-quarters of a length back to third-place finisher Enavhir.
“From (post 1) I either had to take back more than I wanted to or risk getting stuck inside for the entire trip, so I took her back farther than normal,” Baze said. “Luckily for me, everybody made preemptive moves at the half-mile pole and I was able to sit there, let them all go and pick my way through the pack. She gave me a big run.”
Central Heat prepped for the Golden Poppy by defeating Chocolatier by four lengths in a no-conditions allowance on April 24.
“She’s just an outstanding mare,” Delia said. “Everybody is worried because she’s 7, but I’m not. She was amazing today and she was in a tough position most of the way. When Russell got her loose, she exploded. (Chocolatier) came back on her after we got the lead and she had to work hard. I was worried about the bounce because this was 20 days from her comeback race. She might have bounced a little bit, but she gutted it out. She keeps getting better and better. She wants to try every time and she trains like she wants to win all the time.”
Handfull finished fourth and was followed home by Miss Boom Boom, Screaming Skylar, Chronologic’sghost and Elprado’s Heirloom. Qiaona was scratched.