Santa Barbara Stakes – Grade III
1 1/2 Mile Turf Stake Purse $100.000 Filly & Mare 3 Year Olds And Up.

1st      Ginger Shamanism        Greyfriars Stable           Cedillo A

First of all huge congratulations to Greyfriars Stable in gaining their first graded stakes win in their ten year career. They have been working hard to achieve this goal and very often the first one is always the hardest so hopefully this will be the boost that see’s them win many more.

I must admit i didn’t see this one coming but sometimes things just happen in such a way that horses can step up their game off of seemingly average form. Two things happened here which certainly aided this filly, firstly she started like a startled gazelle, that certainly helped. Secondly it looked like all the other jockeys or trainers were more worried about getting the 12 furlongs than chasing this filly who went into a clear lead and was allowed to dictate a fairly sedate pace. Turning for home she still held a good lead and had enough left to hold off the challengers by a half length.

Where this daughter of Ginger Haggis goes from here remains to be seen, hopefully she can step up again and has taken a leap on her improvement curve, only time will tell.

2nd           Folsom Tradition         Hippyheart      Espinoza V

Stalked the leader and looked like it was only a matter of time before she went up to her to mount her challenge but though she is a tough stayer she doesn’t have a huge turn of foot and she was left flat footed in the end. She was making ground but never looked like getting there ending up second.

3rd        Built For Speed         First Flight Stable          Prat F

Being a deep closer like this one is can cause problems because they are so reliant on the pace of the race. She was well behind off an average pace and never really got close enough to be a danger though once again ran on well enough that you feel she could have won if she just had a little more early pace.

4th         Grand Phoenix         Team 7 Illusions       Gonzalez Ru

Coming off her maiden win this wasn’t a bad effort but one feels she still has a little way to go to get to this level.

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES