Lieutenant Dan makes 2022 debut in Green Flash

It happens quickly. Both the phenomenon involving the setting sun and the ocean and the Grade 3 race that is scheduled for Sunday at Del Mar.

The Green Flash is known to locals as that rare occurrence when the atmospheric conditions are just right. As the sun disappears under the horizon a green flash appears where the sun used to be. It only lasts a second, then it’s gone.

The Green Flash, the $150,000 horse race, is a five-furlong turf sprint involving some of the fastest horses on the grounds. It’s a “win and you’re in” race for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. This year’s Green Flash will feature the returning champion, Lieutenant Dan, making his 2022 debut.

Last year, the Cal-bred son of Grazen raced four times and won three of them on his way to being named the 2021 Cal-bred Horse of the Year. He won a second-level allowance at Del Mar in July, captured the Green Flash a month later and then won the Eddie D (G2) down the hill at Santa Anita in October. He went on to run a good second to champion Golden Pal in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, posting a triple-digit Beyer speed figure.

Trainer Steve Miyadi has given Lieutenant Dan plenty of time to recover from his 2021 campaign and explains the long layoff and the timing of his return.

“The owner paid $100,000 to nominate him (for the Breeders’ Cup),” Miyadi says. “He paid entry and starting fees, ran second in the Breeders’ Cup, and he made $5,000. Since he made him eligible for it for his career, might as well run him again. But if we had kept going with him what are the odds (he’d still be running by November). Now if we run second, he actually makes money.”

Two imports from South America are expected to give Lieutenant Dan all he can handle in the Green Flash. Dubai Key hasn’t lost since arriving in the States last summer. He’s won three straight, two at Gulfstream Park and his last at Del Mar last month. All three were allowance races.

“He’s a very fast horse,” says trainer Amador Sanchez, who brought a string of seven horses with him to Del Mar from his Florida base. “The horse is very good right now; better than his last race.”

Sanchez is also running another speedball from Chile, Super Ocho, who made his U.S. debut in June at Mountaineer and won by 10 lengths.

“He’s similar, very classy,” Sanchez says. “He’s very strong. He won at Mountaineer but this is the first time he’s in a good group. I feel very good about this race.”

Whatmakessammyrun came late at Dubai Key in the third-level allowance race at Del Mar and with a better trip could turn the tables. He’s now in the Mark Glatt barn. The third-place finisher in that allowance race, Nero, also is entered.