California Memory (Highest Honor {Fr}–Kalpita, by Spinning World), whose gray color, diminutive stature and considerable talent won him a legion of fans the world over, has been officially registered as retired with the Hong Kong Jockey Club at the age of nine.
Bred in Kentucky by Fred Seitz and sold by Brookdale Sales for $65,000 at the 2007 Keeneland September sale, California Memory was trained by Carlos Laffon-Parias in France as Portus Blendium and won three times from eight starts. He was third in the Listed Prix Matchem–behind the late Cavalryman (GB) and Cirrus des Aigles (Fr)–and Listed Prix de Tourgeville before his export to Asia.
Trained throughout his Hong Kong career by Tony Cruz for owner Howard Liang, California Memory, who weighed in right around 1000 pounds, broke through with a victory in the Hong Kong Gold Cup in 2011 and scored the first of his two wins in the G1 Hong Kong Cup the following December (video). He snapped a six-race skid in the G2 Jockey Club Cup in November 2012 and parlayed that success to become the first and only horse to go back-to-back in the Hong Kong Cup (video). Runner-up to Military Attack (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}) in that one's coming-out party in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup in April 2013, California Memory displayed his versatility by taking out the Champions and Chater Cup over 2400 meters to close that campaign. Though he was a good third in that event last May, he failed to visit the winner's circle again in a career which saw him win a dozen times from 47 career appearances. He retires with earnings of $6,681,008.
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