David Flores knows Turbulent Descent like the back of his hand. The
43-year-old jockey has ridden the daughter of Congrats in each of her
nine races, winning six and finishing second twice. Not only has he
ridden her in every race, the Tijuana native also “always works her,”
according to trainer Mike Puype.
Next up for Team Turbulent Descent: Saturday’s Grade I, $300,000
La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs. All parties
expect the bay filly to show marked improvement from her most recent
race, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, in which she finished
worse than second for the first time in her career, dawdling home fifth
but with a major excuse. Daily Racing Form’s trouble line reads, “Rough
start.”
“It was a rough start from right out of the gate,” Flores
recounted of the Breeders’ Cup race over a “good” track at Churchill
Downs on Nov. 4. Turbulent Descent, who has been favored in every race,
five times at odds-on, broke from the No. 3 post position in a field of
12 going seven furlongs.
“We got bumped pretty hard, but at that time, I was very
comfortable,” Flores continued. “I just wanted to give her a chance and
got her to relax, but the bumping started again before the five-eighths
pole, right when we passed the chute. I was carried out and it was just
too much bumping. She got her way through, but she made an early move
and it was something I didn’t want to do. But what are you going to do?
You have to get over it and just move on.”
Addressing his successful, long-term association with Turbulent
Descent, Flores said, “I worked her the very first time a half mile at
Del Mar. Mike was very high on her from the beginning and I understand
why. We’ve been very patient with her from the beginning and when the
time comes for her to get serious in her races, she does the job very
easily.”
The field for the La Brea, the eighth of nine races: Home Sweet
Aspen, Joel Rosario; Turbulent Descent, Flores; May Day Rose, Martin
Garcia; Include Me Out, Joe Talamo; Sarah’s Secret, Rafael Bejarano;
Sugarinthemorning, Garrett Gomez; Great Hot, Chantal Sutherland;
California Nectar, Hector Berrios; and Teddy’s Promise, Victor Espinoza.