ARCADIA, Calif.–In her first graded stakes appearance, Nick Alexander’s homebred Becca Taylor, a California-bred daughter of Old Topper, outdueled Grade I stakes placed Dance to the Music en route to an authoritative 2 ½ length win in Saturday’s Grade III, $100,000 Desert Stormer Stakes, her eighth win from nine career starts. Trained by Steve Miyadi and ridden for the first time by Juan Hernandez, Becca Taylor got six furlongs in 1:09.35.
In what quickly developed into a two-horse race, Dance to the Music blasted off from her rail post position under Abel Cedillo and was pressed hard to the sixteenth pole, where Becca Taylor assumed command.
“She came to run today,” said Hernandez, Santa Anita’s leading rider with 93 wins and 21 added money victories. “She’s a really good filly. She’s got an incredible record. Today, she was a little fresh. She broke really sharp and I didn’t want to go to the front because I saw the other filly (Dance to the Music) has a lot of speed too. I didn’t want to be head and head, but as soon as she felt the inside horse, she was ready to take off and that’s why we went a little fast.
“I just tried to let her be happy. When we hit the stretch, she changed leads and she just kept on going. Yes, I was glad we were outside. It’s always good to be outside in these short races. Today though, the way she broke so fast, it probably didn’t matter that much.”
A two-time statebred stakes winner on dirt, 4-year-old Becca Taylor came off a one length allowance win going six furlongs on synthetic Tapeta at Golden Gate Fields May 7 and was off as the 3-5 favorite in a field of four fillies and mares three and up, returning $3.20 and $2.10 with no show wagering.
A nose shy of being unbeaten in nine starts, Becca Taylor, who is out of Alexander’s General Meeting mare Lady Sax, picked up $60,000 for the win, increasing her earnings to $379,160.
“Mark Glatt had a nice horse (Dance to the Music), the competition was tough,” said Alexander. “She’s never beaten anybody by a whole bunch. She just seems to like to lay off and win by a little bit. We had the leading rider, the outside post and I was still nervous.
“As soon as she put her head in front of Dance to the Music, her ears went up. She knew she was home. Juan said he had a lot of horse down the back side, she wanted to then but he kept her back. That time, 1:09 and change, that’s as fast as Desmond Doss ran the other day (Thor’s Echo Stakes, May 28, in 1:09.70) and we thought that was a big win.
“This is pretty cool. It’s a feather in the cap for her. Her mom is gone, her sire is gone, so she’s carrying on for them.”
Dance to the Music, second in the Grade I Del Mar Debutante three starts back, finished 3 ¾ lengths in front of Samurai Charm and paid $2.10 to place while off at 8-5.
Fractions on the race were 21.95, 43.85 and 56.17.
Seven-time NBA Champion Robert Horry, who won a pair of championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001 and 2002, presented the Desert Storm trophy.
Santa Anita Press Release
Photo: Becca Taylor (Benoit Photo)
