Branch, Branch, Konecny et al’s ELUSIVE DIVA (Elusive Quality) once again
displayed her affinity for Santa Anita’s about 6 1/2-furlong downhill turf course,
tracking the pace until upper stretch and bounding away to an easy three-length
score in Wednesday’s $100,000
Senator Ken Maddy H. (G3). The Mark Glatt-trained
four-year-old filly improved to three-for-three over the unusual American course
and captured the Oak Tree Racing Association’s opening day feature in 1:11 2/5
with Patrick Valenzuela up.
Winner of the Las Cienegas H. (G3) and Wishing Well H. earlier this year down
the hill, Elusive Diva sat close on Wednesday while Bella Banissa (Good and
Tough) set fractions of :21 4/5 and :43 4/5 over the firm turf. She moved to the
fore when asked after crossing over the main track and quickly opened up an
insurmountable advantage, easily holding the late-running Chasethegold (Touch
Gold) at bay in second.
Favored at 3-2, Elusive Diva paid $5, $4 and $2.80 to her supporters.
Chasethegold, off at 20-1, closed well on the grandstand side to be an easy
second and gave back $12.20 and $8.40. It was another length back to the 17-1
Abounding Truth (Proudest Romeo) in third. Show was good for $7.40, and the $1
exotics totaled $33.90 (exacta), $379.50 (trifecta) and $2,511.60 for the
3-10-2-12 superfecta. Pickle (GB) (Piccolo), Shining Energy (Rahy), The Yellow
Sheet (Benchmark), Tara’s Touch (SAf) (Tara’s Halls), Bella Banissa, Puxa Saco (Dehere),
Royal Wave (Royal Academy) and Navaja (NZ) (Daggers Drawn) rounded out the order
of finish. Valentine Dancer (In Excess [Ire]), Very Vegas (Storm Boot) and
Ahuriri Hikawai (NZ) (Exploding Prospect) were scratched.
Bred in Kentucky by John and Doris Konecny, Elusive Diva improved her overall
mark to 14-6-1-3 with $414,730 in earnings. The bay filly captured last year’s
Railbird S. (G3) at Hollywood and has placed in the La Brea S. (G1), Hollywood
Breeders’ Cup Oaks (G2), A Gleam Invitational H. (G2) and Buena Vista H. (G3).
She’s out of the stakes-winning Taj Aire (Taj Alriyadh), who is also the dam of
stakes victors R. Baggio (Chimes Band) and Handyman Bill (Skywalker). The
14-year-old dam has an unraced two-year-old filly named No Lullaby (Brahms), a
yearling filly named Diva’s Seastar (Broken Vow) and weanling colt by Belong to
Me.