By J.N. Campbell
With jockey Flavien Prat urging his mount on down the lane, Yellow Card (Lost Treasure (Ire)–Paris Girl, by Pulpit) was up in time to take the GII Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes on Saturday's Derby undercard, which was the first higher-level win of the horse's career.
Yellow Card captured his first black-type when he won the restricted Clocker's Corner Stakes at Santa Anita Feb. 8. Shipping to Keeneland for the GII Valvoline Global Shakertown Stakes, the Michael McCarthy trainee encountered some traffic troubles up the backstretch, but he showed heart as he rallied down the lane to finish as the runner-up behind today's entrant My Boy Prince (Cairo Prince).
The 5-2 choice here broke cleanly and began to move up from the middle of the pack to race behind leader Joe Shiesty (Air Force Blue) up the backstretch. Yellow Card continued to track the pacesetter through the top of the lane, but once he uncorked his final dash was enough to earn a trip to the winner's circle as he nailed Joe Shiesty in the final jump.
“He broke well and we got into a good spot,” said Prat. “He really showed a lot of courage. The whole race was a battle, and he fought to get to the wire first.”
“Last time at Keeneland [in the Shakertown] he got banged around at the half-mile pole and it wasn't his day,” said trainer Michael McCarthy. “I'm so proud of him and the effort he was able to put in today. I'm so glad Flavien [Prat] decided to stick with him. [Owner] Jim Daniell needed this one, I needed this one.”
In 2025 owner Jim Daniell lost his wife Donna Daniell, who was a former employee at Santa Anita Park.
Pedigree Notes:
Sire Lost Treasure (Ire) (by War Front) now has his first graded winner with Yellow Card's victory in the Twin Spires Turf Stakes.
Daniell's 5-year-old is the second stakes horse for dam Paris Girl, who also produced a black-type placed runner in Panama.
Yellow Card's dam has seven winners to her credit, and two sons of Always Dreaming, who are currently a 3-year-old and a yearling. Paris Girl visited War Front for this term.
Saturday, Churchill Downs
TWIN SPIRES TURF SPRINT S. PRESENTED BY ACCENTURE-GII, $594,600, Churchill Downs, 5-2, 3yo/up, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.20, fm.
1–YELLOW CARD, 121, h, 5, by Lost Treasure (Ire)
1st Dam: Paris Girl, by Pulpit
2nd Dam: Charleston Girl, by Grand Slam
3rd Dam: Clever But Costly, by Clever Trick
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($19,000 RNA Ylg '22 KEESEP; $87,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR). O-James M. Daniell; B-Tiffiney K. Veloudis (KY); T-Michael W. McCarthy; J-Flavien Prat. $354,500. Lifetime Record: 14-5-4-1, $1,099,245. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Joe Shiesty, 121, g, 5, Air Force Blue–Ready to Unleash, by More Than Ready. ($16,000 Ylg '22 KEEJAN). O-Foster Family Racing, Reynolds, Lonnie, Mills, Vicki and Coomes, Donald; B-Rodney E. Orr (KY); T-Eric N. Foster. $115,000.
3–Litigation, 121, c, 4, Twirling Candy–Argue, by Storm Cat. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O/B-Stone Farm (KY); T-Brian A. Lynch. $57,500.
Margins: NK, HD, NO. Odds: 2.90, 5.80, 1.79.
Also Ran: My Boy Prince, Possiblemente, Mondogetsbuckets, Full Disclosure, Bear River, Its Bourbon Thirty, Wendelssohn.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
YELLOW CARD finished the G2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes in a flash under jockey Flavien Prat.
This marks trainer Michael McCarthy's first KY derby win of the day!#TwinSpires pic.twitter.com/jCnTJsMTD6
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) May 2, 2026
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