ARCADIA, Calif. – When Catch a Flight won Saturday’s $100,750 Precisionist Stakes at Santa Anita, giving trainer Richard Mandella the 2,000th win of his career, there was no raucous post-race celebration.
“I was in bed by 8 p.m.,” Mandella said.
In fairness to the 64-year-old Mandella, there was a job to do, and other runners that needed attention, on Sunday when training resumed before dawn. Any extensive celebrations can be held if Catch a Flight reaches Mandella’s early summer goal of winning the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 27.