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Filly too Hot to handle in Santa Maria
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| Great Hot got back on the winning track in the Santa Maria with Gary Stevens aboard
(Benoit Photos) |
Great Hot grabbed command of Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000
Santa
Maria from the onset and never looked back en route to a half-length victory
over even-money favorite Book Review. Trained by A. C. Avila and ridden by Gary
Stevens, the Orientate mare ran 1 1/16 miles on the fast Santa Anita main track
in 1:43.
"Gary (Stevens) got the
breaks. Nobody wins 5,000 races for no reason," Avila asserted. "(Stevens) spoke to me yesterday (about strategy), I said, 'I'm
going to do one thing. I'm going to give you a leg up and you are the boss.'
"How
am I going to tell Gary Stevens how to ride? I left it up to Gary, because he knows how to read the
(Daily Racing) Form. I said when the gates open and if somebody gets crazy, let them go. She's
got back class."
Great Hot ran fourth in this same race last year after tracking the pace, but
this time around did all her running on the front end, setting leisurely splits
of :23 4/5, :48, 1:12 and 1:36 2/5. Lady of Fifty and Snow Fall kept each other
company in the second tier while Book Review and Private Affair bided their time
in the rear of the compact field.
Great Hot still held a comfortable lead leaving the backstretch, but Book
Review was ready to make her move. Finally finding some running room, the
chestnut miss angled off the rail and shot to Great Hot's outside as the pair
rounded the turn.
Book Review tried to rally past the leader in the lane, but Stevens simply
let out another notch on his mount and Great Hot easily held her rival as the
9-1 second longest shot in the five-distaffer field.
"At the three-eighths pole
I let her out a notch and it wasn't full tilt yet, but it was enough to get
their attention," Stevens explained. "When we turned into the stretch she had
enough still to hold the other filly off.
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"It was so sweet. I moved her out about three wide (in the stretch) and
she just shut it down and was listening to my commands all the way around. I was
just being a passenger until the head of the stretch.
"It feels good. I've had that feeling before," Stevens added about his
recent success following a seven-year retirement. "I guess
that's why I came back, I had that feeling, and I wanted it again."
Great Hot paid $20.80, $5.60 and $3.40 for her first victory since taking the
Grade 2 Raven Run in October 2011. Book Review appears to have contracted a case
of seconditis following her neck win in the Grade 1 La Brea on December 26,
filling out the second spot in the Grade 2 La Canada as well as this one.
"I was right behind the winner," said Rafael Bejarano, who was aboard Book
Review. "By the three-eighths I let go and my
horse moved well but the winner was very comfortable on the lead and that horse
was running until the end. For a moment turning into the stretch I thought I had
a lot of horse, and that she was going to show me a big kick but Great Hot never
stopped until the end."
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| Avila congratulated Stevens following Great Hot's Santa Maria win
(Benoit Photos) |
It was another 2 3/4 lengths back to Lady of Fifty, who was followed under
the wire by Snow Fall and Private Affair following the scratch of Going for a
Spin.
In addition to the Raven Run and Santa Maria, Great Hot also captured the
2011 Torrey Pines. The dark bay mare, who was sporting blinkers for the first
time on Saturday, owns eight stakes-placings, including the 2011 runnings of the
La Brea and Grade 1 Lady's Secret as well as last year's La Canada.
Campaigned by breeders Luiz Fernando Dannemann and Denize
Ferrier Danneman of Rio de Janeiro, whose nom de course is Coudelaria Jessica,
Great Hot has banked $537,927 in career earnings and run up a 5-3-5 mark from 21
lifetime starts.
"I put the blinkers on to give her
more focus," Avila explained, before adding that he would look at the Grade 1,
$300,000 Santa Margarita going 1 1/8 miles on March 16 for Great Hot's next
race. "She showed she can relax. She just galloped around there. It's like a
dream come true." |
The Brazilian-bred mare is out of the unraced Seeking the Gold mare That's
Hot. Her third dam, the Grade 1-placed *Hawaii mare Island Kitty, produced Grade
1 scorer and leading sire Hennessy, Grade 1 victress Pearl City, and multiple
Grade 3 victor Shy Tom.
Farther back, this family is responsible for champion Family Style, Belmont
Stakes hero Editor's Note, European champion Hold That Tiger, and Grade 1
winners Field Cat and Lost Kitty.
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