Santa Margarita (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
SA- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
April 27, 2019

Almost a year ago, Misty Firefox won the biggest race of her career, taking the KYO at CD. She’d win the race that followed, too, but was otherwise kept out of the winners circle since that point in time. She had run well though, things just did not align properly for her to get another win. This seemed like a good spot for her to bounce back as while there were worthy rivals, the size of the field made her chances better. With J Talamo aboard, the Crocker Ggs filly took care of business and gets the eighth win of her career. It’s the first win in the stake for the trainer, and the second for jockey J Talamo, who seems to have luck with horses with internet entities (even if unintended which is likely the case with Misty Firefox) in their name, as he previously won with Google Maps. The time of the win was 1:48.24, the second quickest time in the history of the race. Let’s take a look!

(½ Mile- :47.02)- The initial leader of the race would be Stellar Wind, the huge longshot for Simmer Down Stable. Yes, when you pick four horses in a five horse race it exposes who you think will finish last, though I didn’t put her down. At 104/1 odds, I definitely would have taken a shot with her. Once into the first turn, Nice Tactical Speed tries to live up to her name, and takes over the lead for Maxmillion Farm. At the top of the backstretch, she opens up by almost a length. Attitude Problem is all by herself in the middle of the field for Mb Stables. Trailing are Jinxed Queen, out of Gdp Inc, and our eventual winner, Misty Firefox, out of Crocker Ggs, who has five lengths to make up.

(3/4 Mile- 1:10.79)- At the front, Stellar Wind takes over the lead from Nice Tactical Speed towards the end of the backstretch and is ahead by a half length into the turn. We don’t see pressure from behind yet. Attitude Problem is still all be her lonesome, two more lengths back, and its another two to Jinxed Queen and Misty Firefox, neither of whom are getting involved yet.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- Rounding the turn, Stellar Wind continued to pull away from Nice Tactical Speed, and it soon became clear that Nice Tactical Speed had called it a day. Attitude Problem inherited the second position, but was not putting any additional pressure on Stellar Wind. Advancing on exit of the turn were both Misty Firefox (on the outside) and Jinxed Queen (along the rail), though Misty Firefox had more spring in her step at this point.

(Finish- 1:48.24)- With a furlong to go, Stellar Wind seemed to be in good shape, but a combination of her showing some signs of fatigue late, and the powerful charge of Misty Firefox meant that the big longshot would not light up the board completely. Misty Firefox, an 11/1 shot herself, was at her best in the closing moments and wins by a length. Stellar Wind keeps second, ahead of Jinxed Queen, who didn’t perform in the stretch as well as it seemed like she was going to on exit of the turn. Attitude Problem just seemed to show up and maintain a two length off the pace trip for the whole race. Nice Tactical Speed will need to live up to her name a little better in her next start.

About The Winner- Misty Firefox, trained by Crocker Ggs and ridden to victory by J Talamo, is a four year old filly by Nebulizer, and is out of Firefox. She was bred in Ontario by Crocker Ggs as a second quarter two year old, and they have been together throughout. Congratulations to the connections! The win is her eighth in 16 starts, and her fourth graded win. Her career earnings are now $1,595.480.

Track: Fast
Time: :47   1:10³  1:35²  1:48¹

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 3 – 5 Paid 875.50
$1 Trifecta: 3 – 5 – 2 Paid 850.90

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES