Celestic Night wins Buddy Gil Purse at Santa Anita
January 13, 2011ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) - The longest shot in the field Celestic Night rallied past heavy favorite Metropolitan Man to win the $56,736 Buddy Gil Purse, the Thursday feature at Santa Anita.
English newcomer Metropolitan Man went straight to the front of the field of six 3-year-olds and led for nearly all of the 6 1/2-furlong race on the track's downhill turf course, but Celestic Night and jockey Martin Pedroza caught the favorite in mid-stretch to win by 2 1/4 lengths in 1:13.14.
Celestic Night paid $28.80, $8 and $3.60. Metropolitan Man paid $3.80 and $2.40. Diamond Geezah paid $2.60 to show.
It was the third win in eight starts for Celestic Night, a Kentucky-bred colt trained by Neil French for Owner Marco Gonzalez. He earned $33,600, for a career total of $80,800.