LA CRESTA - Hi Card Ranch gelding California Flag won the Green Flash Handicap stakes race on Aug. 18 at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

"It was a very thrilling race," said Keith Card, who owns Hi Card Ranch in La Cresta along with his wife, Barbara. "It was too close for comfort there. We won it, and that’s the big thrill."

California Flag won by a nose over its two closest competitors in the five-furlong turf race among horses age three and older. Quick Enough and My Summer Slew finished in a dead heat for second. Cost of Freedom finished fourth.

California Flag entered the stretch in fourth place, trailing then-leader Lt. Hopeful by two lengths and third-place Quick Enough by half of a length.

"It was a nice race for him to win," Card said.

Joe Talamo had been the jockey for most of California Flag’s previous races, including the gelding’s previous race March 27 in Dubai. But during an Aug. 5 race, Rockstar Ben broke a leg and threw Talamo, who broke his wrist. He is expected to miss the rest of the Del Mar racing season.

Card turned to jockey Mike Smith for the Green Flash Handicap.

"I’m glad we did, because Mike rode him beautifully," Card said. "He was available, thank God."

Card and his trainer left the strategy to Smith.

"I got him to relax, and that worked out just fine," Smith said afterward.

California Flag won the race with a time of 55.58 seconds.

"He (Smith) had a hold of him there, but he has such soft hands that Flag didn’t resist him at all," Card said. "Mike’s got a soft hand with the horse. Joe has tougher hands."

Including incentives, the state-bred California Flag earned $61,575 from the total $102,175 purse.

California Flag also won the 2009 Green Flash Handicap, which was his first race after undergoing surgery for ankle chips following a November 2008 victory in the Hollywood Turf Express Handicap at Hollywood Park.

California Flag was foaled at Hi Card Ranch in February 2004. He was sired by Avenue of Flags and his dam was Ultrafleet.

"I’m just thankful to have a good horse like this. It’s the biggest thrill of my life in horse racing," Card said. "I’d like to breed another one just like him."

The Card family has owned the La Cresta property for the past 30 years and has lived there for the past 20 years. Barbara Card is a fourth-generation Californian who was raised in Covina. Keith Card was born in Montana and grew up in Long Beach.