Santa Ysabel

Itty Bitty Pretty scored her first stakes in the Santa Ysabel (Benoit Photo)

Std Racing Stable & Jason Wood’s ITTY BITTY PRETTY (El Corredor) broke
through with her first stakes win in style on Saturday at Santa Anita, easily taking the
$109,200
Santa
Ysabel S. (G3) by six lengths under jockey Pat Valenzuela. The bay
miss gave her trainer, Doug O’Neill, a one-three finish in the 1 1/16-mile test
as stablemate Horse B With You (Slewdledo) finished third.

Incumbent (Carson City) was the quickest when the gates opened, sprinting to
the front with Horse B With You just to her outside. Valenzuela settled Itty
Bitty Pretty in the two path as 2-5 favorite Sabatini (Five Star Day) took up a
ground-saving position on the rail. That order didn’t change as Incumbent led
her rivals through reasonable splits of :23 2/5 and :48 1/5 for the first
half-mile.

As the field approached the turn, Corey Nakatani gave Horse B With You the
signal to start her run and the dark bay sophomore moved up to the outside of
the longtime leader and put her head in front past six furlongs in 1:13 1/5.
Exiting the turn, though, it was Itty Bitty Pretty splitting horses to gain the
advantage. From there, it was just a question of how much she would win by, as
the three-year-old lass stopped the clock over the fast dirt in 1:44 3/5.

“I thought before the race our other horse (Horse B With You) would be on the
lead and Patrick would be sitting just off,” O’Neill said. “But when the one
(Incumbent) went (to the front), I was like, ‘That wasn’t the way we wrote it
up.’ But Patrick gave her a perfect, patient ride and when he called on her she
accelerated perfectly. These El Corredors have really been running well.”