Triple Bend Stakes – (Grade lll)

Purse $100.00 – For Three Year Olds And Upward

7 Furlongs – Dirt

Santa Anita Park – May 31, 2026

Wild Girl returned to his winning ways with a strong performance in the 22nd running of the Triple Bend Stakes. This triumph was a milestone moment, giving this gelding his first graded stakes win while improving his record to four wins from his last five starts. The victory pushed his career earnings to $354.10 and also marked the seventh win of his career. Considering he changed barns for only $1.01, it is safe to say his connections have gotten tremendous value from their investment. Wild Girl covered the seven furlongs in 1:21.39, matching a time that has now been recorded three times in the history of the race. The win carried added significance, giving both Delta Farms and jockey Victor Espinoza their first Triple Bend Stakes score. With no allowance conditions remaining, Wild Girl appears set for a steady diet of stakes competition moving forward. Connections will have a lot of options this summer as this horse has won races from five and a half furlongs to seven furlongs. A terrific training and placement job by Delta Farms! Congrats!

Winner: Wild Girl – (Delta Farms, V. Espinoza) This son of Breath Of The Wild could not have had a better trip leaving the gate. As four horses vied for the early lead, jockey Victor Espinoza took Wild Girl back off the pace and sat on the rail. They settled in fifth down the backside about two lengths off the pace. Going into the far turn, Victor was starting to look for room, but he was staring at a wall of horses in front of him. Now one length back from the pacesetters, Wild Girl found room at the top of the stretch and stormed home to win by a neck. It was perfectly timed because if that seam didn’t open up llium, who was closing on the outside, would’ve beaten him to the finish. No doubt, it was an impressive performance. Well done!

Second Place: llium – (D J C Racing Stables, K. Kimura) It was hard to make a case for this five-year-old, but he showed up in a big way. It was his first time against stakes company and second time going seven furlongs. llium raced two wide down the backside, just to the outside of Wild Girl. He got in a comfortable rhythm behind the speed and started to inch closer to the leaders, passing the 5/16 pole. The unfortunate part of his trip was just before entering the stretch, as there was a wall of four horses in front of him and jockey Kazushi Kimura decided to go five wide. There was definitely some ground lost, but llium still make up a significant amount of ground to get second. This gelding has now proved he belongs against these horses.

Third Place: Excogitator – (Family Racing, A. Fresu) Came into this race with lots of  stakes experience and three wins at the distance. He was very quick out of the gate and vied with Smokin Hash, Capiche, and Unattainable for the early lead. They set early fractions of 22.98 and 46.18. There wasn’t much change down the backside and rounding the far turn as these four horses stayed together upfront. Excogitator appeared to have taken the lead for a short period in deep stretch, but was outclosed in the final sixteenth to finish third. I’m sure we’ll see this son of Cherokee Sunset in some more stakes races as the summer starts. It would be interesting to see him on the turf again sometime in the future.

Fourth Place: Capiche – (Ajm Stables, V. Del-Cid) Ended up being the post-time favorite in his fourth start for his new connections. This gelding was the only one in the field with a grade one win at the seven-furlong distance. Capiche was one of the four trying to establish the early lead and ended up finding himself running four wide. I’m sure it was a little wider than the connections were hoping. Halfway around the turn, he looked like he was ready to spurt away from the field and actually took the lead at the top of the stretch. Capiche didn’t seem to have enough to pull away from his rivals and looked to have hung a little bit to finish fourth. This gelding will be very competitive against allowance company moving forward.

– AJM

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES