Buena Vista Stakes (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
SA- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
One Mile on the Turf
February 17, 2018

In a close finish at the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes, Commanding Faith picked up her second consecutive win, and has established herself now as one to watch in this division this year. Late success in 2017 allowed her to run in the BC Fillies and Mares Turf, and with this win she shows that she is carrying that form into 2018. Crocker Ggs is the winning trainer, doing so for the first time, but was wise to pick up the hot jockey as K J Desormeaux has now ridden the winner in the last three runnings of the Buena Vista. Congratulations to them! The time of the victory was 1:33.41, a middle of the road winning in time in comparison to past editions of the race. Let’s take a look at how it was won!

(1/4 Mile- :23.48)- Everyone seems to break well out of the gate, and eventually emerging with the lead would be Guest Of Honor, from Mb Stables, with the highest odds that I think I have seen associated with an Mb Stables horse in a long time. Trump Princess was within a length just to her outside for Winning Link Stables, and sitting just off the lead would be Ocean Reef (Chili King Stables) and Creme de La Geek (Nakamura Stables). There was then a gap one more to our eventual race winner Commanding Faith, who had a position on the rail for Crocker Ggs, running about four lengths from the front runners at this point. Cats Landing (D J C Racing Stables) ran right beside her, with Peppermint Miss, in the third lane (Allinthegate). At the back was Laff It Up (Our Athletes), and while she was ok out of the gate, she seemed to immediately be put in a hard restrain.

(½ Mile- :46.71)- The longshot, Guest Of Honor leads the field down the backstretch and has pulled away from Trump Princess, and now has a two length advantage. Trump Princess remains second, but now finds herself with company to her inside in the form of Ocean Reef. Peppermint Miss has crept up a bit and is now fourth. Otherwise, not a whole lot going on with the field here. Commanding Faith still trails by four length, and runs along the inside. Not too long after hitting the half mile, we do see Commanding Faith move off the rail and look to make her move to the front. She would move into the lane to the outside of Ocean Reef, positioning herself well for the turn.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- Trump Princess moves up well in the turn, and is now even with Guest Of Honor for the race lead. Peppermint Miss was three wide around the turn, but stayed a length back of Trump Princess while going around it, and now is just a length off the lead herself. She handled the turn really well, and looked very good at this point. As this was going on, Commanding Faith was also moving up, doing so while running right behind Trump Princess, but positioned for a move to split her and Guest Of Honor if she chose to do so. The other four at this point are looking like also-rans. Laff It Up catches the others in the pack, but did not look like she’d be able to make a move to the front.

(Finish- 1:33.41)- An entertaining three horse battle sets up for the stretch. Trump Princess does her best to hang on, while Peppermint Miss tries hard to complete that pass to her outside. For Commanding Faith, that room to split Guest Of Honor and Trump Princess widened as Guest Of Honor began to bow out. In the dying moments, it looked like it might be Peppermint Miss, but Commanding Faith would dig in as hard as she could, as she refused to lose. In the end, she got up just a nose in time on one-time stablemate with Allinthegate Peppermint Miss, with Trump Princess doing her best to hang tough, and being a very close third. It’s a gap of a length and a half to the fourth place Guest Of Honor, who holds off Laff It Up for the final piece of the purse. Cats Landing, Ocean Reef, and Creme de La Geek never showed much today.

About The Winner: Commanding Faith, trained by Crocker Ggs and ridden by K J Desormeaux, is a four year old filly by Prudent Commander and out of Beverly Faith. She was bred in California as a third quarter two year old by Allinthegate, and acquired by Crocker Ggs as an unraced horse in the September 2016 auction for $45.010. Congratulations to the connections! The win is her third in 12 starts, and is 2-for-2 in 2018. Her career earnings are now $539.680.

Track: Firm
Time: :23²  :46³  1:09⁴  1:33²

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 8 Paid 7.60
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 8 – 7 Paid 23.20

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES