Cavalieri remains undefeated in the La Canada (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif. — Cavalieri is a filly on the ascent for trainer Bob Baffert. Making her stakes debut in Sunday’s 1 1/16-mile GIII La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita, Cavalieri attended the pace and thwarted a late challenge from graded stakes winner Alpha Bella to score as the even-money favorite under Juan Hernandez.
Trained by Bob Baffert, Cavalieri attended the pace with Chatalas (6-1) through fractions of 23.69, 47.33 and 1:11.35 for six furlongs. Near the quarter pole, Cavalieri began to edge away from her pace rival but soon faced a new threat in Alpha Bella. With Flavien Prat aboard, Alpha Bella had saved ground tracking the leaders before launching her rally. She ranged up to the outside of Cavalieri in mid-stretch but could not go by. Cavalieri proceeded to pull away to and crossed the wire a 1 ½ length winner.
“I had a nice break and after that I was in a really good position,” Hernandez said. “She was travelling really well. Turning for home, I think she was waiting for company. When the outside horse (Alpha Bella) came, she felt her and responded really well. She’s a nice filly.”
Cavalieri completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.15. Big Hug, a 19-1 longshot with Mike Smith aboard, finished third with Chatalas, Che Evasora (34-1) and Musical Mischief (6-1) completing the order of finish.
“Coming into the race, with the way she has been training, we knew we were going to have fun with her,” Baffert said of the winner. “She is maturing, and she is a big, beautiful stout mare. If we can keep her healthy we will have a lot of fun with her this year. It was a big step up for her running against some nice fillies and she handled it well, took a lot of pressure and kept going. I think she is going to improve off of this.”
A 4-year-old filly by Nyquist, Cavalieri is owned by Speedway Stables. She was a $900,000 auction buy as a 2-year-old. Cavalieri won her debut going a mile at Del Mar in August and came back to clear her first-level allowance condition, also going a mile, by 3 ½ lengths on Oct. 12 at Santa Anita.
Cavalieri paid $4.00, $2.80 and $2.40. Alpha Bella, trained by John Sadler, returned $2.60 and $2.20. Big Hug trained by Val Brinkerhoff, paid $3.60.
