It was a busy weekend for Midlantic-breds nominated to the Triple Crown. The latest:
[su_list icon=”icon: clipboard”]- Virginia-bred Stellar Wind was ultra-impressive in winning Saturday’s Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes for three-year-old fillies at Santa Anita. The daughter of Curlin, out of Evening Star, by Malibu Moon, broke a bit slowly, tracked the pace while three and four wide, and powered home to win by nearly three lengths at 7-1 odds. Third in her debut — behind a pair of runners, Spotted Heart and Gypsy Judy, who have since become stakes winners — she broke her maiden in her second try by nearly nine lengths in a flashy score. Trained by Donald Barr for Barbara Houck in her first two tries, she was purchased privately following her maiden score by Hronis Racing LLC and now is trained by John Sadler. Stellar Wind, bred by Keswick Stables & Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC, now has two wins from three starts and earnings of $87,200. Sadler indicated that her next likely start would come in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks on April 4.
- It was a less auspicious day for Pennsylvania-bred The Man, who also ran Saturday at Santa Anita. The son of Ecclesiastic had been second and third in his first two starts sprinting, and bettors liked the idea of him stretching out to 1 1/16 miles enough to make him the 6-5 favorite. That was probably the day’s highlight for the Bob Baffert trainee, who was a close-up fifth for much of the trip before emptying out to finish a well-beaten seventh.
- On the work tab this weekend: Black Lab (6 furlongs in 1:14 2/5), Cat Fiftyfive (3 furlongs in 39 2/5), Balfe’s Corner (5 furlongs on turf in 1:03 3/5), Saham (4 furlongs in 49 4/5), Combat Diver (5 furlongs in 1:03 4/5).
And don’t forget to check out our Mid-Atlantic Triple Crown Trail page, featuring a sortable (and searchable) table of all of this year’s Midlantic-bred Triple Crown nominees.
