Seduire wires Santa Ynez

Seduire was an easy winner of the Santa Ynez (Benoit Photos)

Regis Racing’s Seduire gunned straight for the lead once the gates opened on
Saturday’s Grade 2, $201,000
Santa
Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita Park and never looked back en route to a 2
1/4-length victory under jockey Rafael Bejarano.

The duo were dogged by Xoxo up until the stretch while setting splits of :21
3/5 and :44 1/5, but shook lose from that rival and easily withstood Callback’s
challenge in the lane to finish 6 1/2 furlongs on the fast main track in 1:15
1/5.

“Seduire broke sharp from the gate. I was hoping she would because she likes
to be on the lead and I had a bad post (rail). She broke well so I took
advantage,” Bejarano said. “I got her relaxed and tried to give her a breather.
When I felt pressured going into the stretch I let her go and she showed me a
big kick.”

“Coming from the rail,
you don’t really have a lot of choices if you have a speed horse,” trainer Jerry
Hollendorfer replied when asked if Seduire might be on the lead. “She got lucky
and got away smoothly. I think the fractions were pretty decent. We might
stretch her out around two turns. I take them one a time.”

Seduire paid $10.60 as the 4-1 fourth choice
in the nine-filly field. Callback was best of the rest, 4 3/4 lengths up on Xoxo,
while Lady Lake completed the top four under the wire another 2 1/2 lengths
back. Light the City, the 5-2 favorite, finished fifth.

Seduire has taken the first step on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks (Benoit Photos)

“She just wasn’t
comfortable the first 100 yards out of the gate,” jockey Mike Smith explained. “I gave her a chance to get
comfortable and she just didn’t. I tried to make her go a little bit after that
but the more uncomfortable she got, I just said ‘You know, let’s just pull her
up, get her back to the barn safe and we’ll figure it out later.’ Other than
that, she came back fine and that’s the important thing.”

Saturday’s victory awarded Seduire 10 points toward a starting berth in the Kentucky Oaks, as the
Santa Ynez is one of the 16 prep season events on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks
series of races. Callback received four points, Xoxo got two and Lady Lake took
home one. All four made their debut on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard thanks to
the Santa Ynez.

In addition to Kentucky Oaks points, Seduire also earned her first graded
score in this spot, having previously captured the Wine Country Debutante Stakes
and Golden Gate Debutante Stakes. She finished second in both the Landaluce
Stakes and Anoakia Stakes during her juvenile campaign.

The Santa Ynez, which began Seduire’s three-year-old campaign, boosted her
earnings to $262,200 while improving her career mark to read 7-4-2-0. Her only
off-the-board placing to date came as a fifth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante
in late August.

Bred in Ontario, Canada, by Anderson Farms Ontario Inc. and Marette Farrell,
Seduire sold to her current owners for $130,000 as a Keeneland November
weanling. The Elusive Quality gray filly is the first registered foal out of the
unraced Holy Bull mare Holy Eclair.

That mare is herself the daughter of multiple stakes queen Wild Lightning,
making her a full sister to Grade 3-placed stakes victress Saintliness and a
half-sibling to stakes heroine Sly Butterfly, who produced Keeneland stakes
vixen Wind in My Wings.