When he made his California debut on December 3, 1948, Citation did not disappoint his fans at Tanforan. Heavily favored in a six furlong allowance event on the main track, he stalked the pace before taking the lead and boosting his winning streak to fourteen. Though the race was a departure from Big Cy's normal routine of appearing in stakes races, his appearance in San Bruno became the stuff of legend due to the fact he was the first Triple Crown champion to compete in the Golden State.

But Citation was not done at Tanforan. With the 1948 season in its waning weeks, the connections brought Citation back to Tanforan for one more start to close out his legendary three-year-old season.

And the follow up would be in a stakes race.

Entered in the Tanforan Handicap, Citation was asked to again navigate a distance he knew quite well: a mile and one-quarter. Going into his 1948 finale, the Bull Lea colt engineered a perfect 3-for-3 record over ten furlongs (he would never finish below second at the distance in seven starts). And if the wagering was any indication, Citation would have no problem making it 4-for-4 against the six horses doing battle with him on the course.

No one from December 3 was going up against the Triple Crown champion again. This time around, Cash Reward, Happy Issue, See-Tee-See, Stepfather, Texas Sandman and Tropical Sea comprised the opposition. But not one of them had the look of pulling off an upset at Tanforan.

In terms of the odds, Citation romped over everyone else. The 1-20 favorite when the betting finished, everyone else ended up in double digits. Citation's three-year-old campaign and his recent performance at Tanforan were both obvious factors, and the bottom line in the eyes of many was that Citation would wrap up the year with his fifteenth straight win. The only questions they may have asked was what the margin of victory would be, and whether Citation was going to lead early, closely track the leader, or rally from off the pace.

With regular rider Eddie Arcaro in the irons, Citation began start number twenty-nine on a track labeled "good." He answered the question of where he would be positioned early, having the lead by the first-quarter of the Tanforan Handicap. He had a half-length lead at that moment, but raised it to two and one-half lengths by the time he reached a half-mile. The pace was sensible, 24 seconds for the first split followed by 48 seconds for the next one. See-Tee-See followed in second as he dealt with Stepfather, but Citation continued on around Tanforan.

He and Arcaro slowed the tempo down, going 25 seconds between the half-mile and three-quarter mile checkpoints. See-Tee-See managed to get Citation's lead down to a length and one-half, but Citation had not tasted defeat in months. And even with Champion Three-Year-Old and Horse of the Year honors long since assured, Citation was not going to complete 1948 with a blemish at Tanforan. He loved to win races and had been one of the most dominant Thoroughbreds since Man O' War nearly thirty years earlier. Outside of a second place finish the previous April, no one had topped Big Cy. And no one would in his three-year-old finale.

The fans watched as the bay colt and Arcaro moved towards the finish line in the stretch. They ran a mile in 1:37 3/5. Two furlongs left. But the aura of invinicbility stayed within Citation. It had been with him at Churchill Downs, Pimlico, Belmont and several other tracks since his winning streak began the previous April. No horse could penetrate it since the spring. And no one in Tanforan had the capability of doing so, either.

Citation's fifteenth consecutive win produced a time of 2:02 4/5 and a five length margin of victory. But Citation gave the fans something extra with his performance. After only his second start at Tanforan, Citation could now lay claim to the track record for ten furlongs. He would hold the record for one year, as Miche lowered it by three-fifths of a second in 1949. But Citation never needed to have that forever. He had won an edition of the Tanforan Handicap, and just appearing in two races at that track were moments permanently embedded in the minds of those who saw him.

Citation spent the rest of his illustrious career in the Golden State, spending time both on the Northern and Southern California circuits. But he never competed at Tanforan again after 1948. Even so, Citation left his hoofprint on the venue long after he left it. And though neither one has been around for decades, Citation's hoofprint on Tanforan has never vanished.