Santa Maria Stakes (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
SA- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
February 11, 2017

The rain stayed away from the Santa Maria Stakes, and SA as a whole, as the 80% chance that we feared on Thursday would never play out.  This would mean that the class of the field, Shake It Off, would not have to worry about making her first career start on a wet track.   Perhaps a lot of the early betting felt as though there would be rain, because strangely, this race had a 1/5 favorite, and it was not her.  Was there an error in the program at SA or something, and Shake It Off was listed as the #1?   I’ll take nearly 4/1 all day long on her, and Shake It Off shook off her unexpected doubters, and evicted the actual favorite from the winner’s circle. It’s the fifth in her career, and fourth career graded win.  Her last win was the Personal Ensign at SAR, so the odds really were silly on this one.   The happy winning trainer is Our Athletes, scoring his first win in the stake, taking the crown Mb Stables has had the last two years.  C S Nakatani rode the winner for the second time, but he might not have remembered the first one, as it happened way back in 2006.  The time of the win was 1:41.88, about midpack in comparison to others.  Congratulations to the winners! Let’s look a little more at it!

1st- 2- Shake It Off (4/1)- Our eventual winner from Our Athletes put together one of the biggest routs in a race that I have covered in a while.  It’s not necessarily that way because of the margin of victory, as there will be bigger blowouts, but this was simply a case of a completely effortless run where none of the rivals even had her break a sweat.  Her day essentially consisted of her dealing with a quick pacesetter for a little while, and when C S Nakatani looked over his shoulder in the stretch he had to wonder where everyone was.  She stalked the pacesetting El Gran Regret around the opening turn, but everyone else was more interested in a closing strategy (and may have just forgotten to close).   Trailing by a length in the backstretch, Shake It Off eventually reeled in the leader prior to entering the final turn, and once El Gran Regret was caught, that one simply packed it in.    By the time that turn was rounded, the lead was two, and we were wondering there would be a challenge of some sort.   Absolutely nothing coming, and all that was left was to watch her run, winning like a 1/5 favorite should! Or, winning like the 1/5 favorite, she should have been.  The time of the rout was 1:41.88.  Shake It Off is a four year old filly by Quench and out of the Majic Dust.  She was bred in the underrated state of Pennsylvania by Australia Wide as a third quarter two year old.  She was acquired by Our Athletes from the breeder this past November in private sales for $350.000.  Congratulations to the connections!

2nd- 1 – Eviction (1/5)- Made the huge favorite, we gather, due to the 8 wins and 8 seconds in 19 career starts, but very little of that was against company like this.  Started off towards the rear of the field, but about four lengths from the front as they moved into the backstretch.  Did not see much from her in the backstretch, as the deficit remained the same over that portion of the race.  I would love to say that she had a great stretch push, but really, she did not.  One rival tired out, another forget she was in a race, and the third did come on well but had even more ground to make up then she did. Eviction never challenged for a win, but does keep that 1st-2nd streak in tact.

3rd- 5- Three Little Birds (5/1)- The entry from Threshold looked to be under a hard restrain as the race started off, quickly going to the rear of the field.   Had no interest in making a push forward in the backstretch, and still had a deficit of six and half lengths to make up as they moved into the turn.  Never really showed much of a push, despite advancing to third.  One rival was showed nothing, and she just nipped one that stopped running in the stretch for the third position.

4th- 3- El Gran Regret (114/1)- The longest shot on the board, running from Night Mare Racing, was the quickest of them all out of the gate, leading the way early with a :23.50 quarter mile.  She would lead for most of the backstretch portion, running a half in :47.42, but Shake It Off would get by just prior to hitting the final turn.  Once that one guy by, El Gran Regret lost interest, and quickly fell out of contention in the stretch.

5th- 4- Minda (58/1)- What in the world happened with this one?  She would be third early, but much closer to those at the back then she was to the top two as they moved into the backstretch.  Maintained a consistent stride at the point, but never showed an interest to make a push towards the front.  Kept waiting for that push, but it would never come in what would prove to be a very disappointing finish and perhaps make some wonder where trainer John Henry will go from here.

Track: Fast
Time: :23²  :47²  1:10⁴  1:41⁴

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 1 Paid 3.50
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 1 – 5 Paid 6.30

Scratched: None

Winner picked by NS

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES