Any resemblance between the original California Cup, celebrated in the fall of 1990 under the banner of the Oak Tree Racing Association, and the version on display Jan. 18 at Santa Anita Park was purely coincidental, although one name reached across the decades to lend at least a trace of lingering tradition.
Don Valpredo—the racing commissioner, owner, and breeder and who preferred to be known as a Central Valley farmer—was the point man for the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association in the creation of the Cal Cup, way back when. The concept was borrowed from the Maryland Million and given a West Coast twist, with seven Cal Cup races that first year worth a million dollars in partnership with Oak Tree.
A pre-event party at the Gene Autry Museum of the American West brought out the yee-haw in otherwise laid-back owners and breeders, who were more than willing to wave the banner of a California Thoroughbred product that had produced such marquee performers as Honeymoon, Swaps, Olden Times, Ancient Title, Flying Paster, Snow Chief, Fran's Valentine, King Glorious, Brown Bess, Super Diamond, and the red-hot 2-year-old of the moment, Best Pal.
Jump 35 years, and there was the 2025 Cal Cup, offering five events as part of an 11-race program last Saturday. More accurately, only three of the five carried the Cal Cup imprint, one carried the name of the stallion Unusual Heat, and the other was tagged with a Sunshine Millions label, harkening to the come-and-gone bi-coastal series that pitted the produce of California and Florida. It was the name of Valpredo, though, that survived in glorious fashion, even though he died last Oct. 31, at age 85.
Racing for the Valpredo Family Trust, 4-year-old Mayacama broke her maiden in the fourth race of the day, then stepped aside for the running of the Don Valpredo Cal Cup Sprint, won in a romp by Big City Lights. Three races later, the venerable Valpredo silks were back in the winner's circle atop Shocking Grey after her mild upset in the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf Sprint Stakes, which was presented by John Deere and once was known as the much simpler Cal Cup Distaff.
During Valpredo's lifetime, the Cal Cup mutated from that warm autumn hoedown complete with pony rides, bands, barbecues and a handsome collection of local sponsors into the wintry event currently part of the Golden State Series of stakes opportunities scattered throughout the Southern California season. The dwindling impact of the Cal Cup should not be a surprise to anyone who learns that the California foal crop of 1991 was 4,994, compared to 1,661 in 2023. That first Cal Cup drew a crowd of 34,739, a reasonably good day for the era and not to be compared seriously to the 5,436 attending this year, while the Eaton Canyon wildfire continued to burn to the west of the track and the region still reeled from the natural disaster of more than 7,000 structures destroyed.
One of those was the home of Mario Gutierrez, heavy of heart but on his belly to win the eighth race on the Cal Cup program, a maiden claimer for his primary patron, Paul Reddam. The winner was Check's On the Way, whose name reeked of dark irony, ridden by a jockey who spent three hours during the week waiting in a line to secure a promise of fire relief funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"It's a long road to any kind of recovery," said Reddam, who watched the Cal Cup telecast from his winter home in the Bahamas. "His family needs two things most importantly right now. First, some emotional support, and two, some cash. Fortunately, I could help with both of those."
Gutierrez won the Kentucky Derby (G1) twice for Reddam, including the 2012 running with I'll Have Another, who took the Preakness Stakes (G1) as well. After being sold to Japanese interests for a reported $10 million, the son of Flower Alley was repatriated to California in 2018 to stand at Ballena Vista Farm in Ramona. In 2021, I'll Have Another and Reddam were reunited at the owner's Ocean Breeze Ranch, where most of his mares came from the Reddam band.
One of them is You Missed It, a daughter of Lookin At Lucky, who was a stakes-placed maiden for Reddam. Her third foal, and first filly, was Take Another Card, who won the Leigh Ann Howard California Cup Oaks in the last race on the day. With Hector Berrios on board, Take Another Card muscled her way through a big field to win the mile turf event by a neck. Reddam's Pavel Is Appealing, under Gutierrez, finished far back.
"Take Another Card got banged around pretty good," Reddam noted. "Then it was kind of funny to see her shove our other filly out of the way. Both riders were doing what they were supposed to do, and it could have blown up in our face. But Mario was pretty much out of horse at the time."
Reddam also finished second in the Filly and Mare Turf Sprint with Stay and Scam. His haul for the day was $145,050, hardly a drop in the bucket for such a large California racing and breeding operation. With a number of fellow California owners leaking to other tracks in search of better purses, Reddam was asked how he justifies his continued loyal presence.
"They're making it difficult," he said, referring to California's remaining racetrack purse structures after four significant closures this century. "The best way to hang in there is don't look at your financial statement. It's tough to fill races sometimes, and I've got an overabundance of Cal-breds."
Reddam will continue to breed at Ocean Breeze, the former Vessels Stallion Farm located near the San Luis Rey Downs Training Center, although a healthy portion of the large property is currently in escrow, having been sold to a homebuilding firm.
"The total property is roughly 1,400 acres, and the ranch part is 260 acres," Reddam said. "So homes will be built around there, but the ranch itself will still be intact."
I'll Have Another was pensioned in early 2024 and retired to Old Friends Equine in Kentucky, where he joined fellow Derby and Preakness winner Silver Charm. On the morning of Jan. 19, the old stallions there awoke to learn that one of their number had just sired a stakes winner out on the coast,
"We retired I'll Have Another because the horses weren't doing any good on the track," Reddam said. "So now he's got a good filly, but who's going to go breed a mare at Old Friends?"
