Domain Expansion surpises with dominant win in Oak Leaf, Benoit Photo
Santa Anita Park Press
ARCADIA, CA —After finishing second in her only previous start going one mile on turf against maidens at Del Mar, Domain Expansion sprung a 14-1 upset Saturday in the Grade II, $200,000 Oak Leaf Stakes presented by Oak Tree Racing Association for 2-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the main track at Santa Anita Park. The victory earned the daughter of Speaker’s Corner an automatic berth to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Ridden by Adrian Escobedo and trained by Leonard Powell, Domain Expansion stalked pacesetter Deluge in second while saving ground along the rail. She then was angled out for racing room when entering the stretch and stormed to the front to win going away by seven lengths. Holmby (3-1), ridden by Ricky Gonzalez, finished second by 3 ¼ lengths over Quattro Passi, the even-money favorite who had Mike Smith aboard. Holmby, Quattro Passi and Deluge, who weakened to fifth, are all trained by Bob Baffert.
Domain Expansion won in a time of 1:44.44 following fractions of 23.05, 47.11, 1:11.86 and 1:37.94 for one mile.
For Escobedo, the Oak Leaf was his first-ever graded stakes win.
“It feels amazing,” Escobedo said. “She felt great, like the first time I rode her. I felt very comfortable. Mr. Powell gave me the best instructions. This filly, she is just getting started. Hopefully we can go far with her. Thanks to everyone for the opportunity, let’s go do this.”
A $130,000 auction buy as a yearling, Domain Expansion is owned by California Racing Partners, Ciaglia Racing, Allen R. Keith and Kevin O’Donnell. In her debut on turf Sept. 5 at Del Mar, Domain Expansion rallied from well back under Escobedo to finish second by 1 ¼ lengths behind Dash, who returns in Sunday’s Grade III Surfer Girl going one mile on turf at Santa Anita.
“She is very talented,” Powell said “As soon as we started breezing her at Del Mar, she showed things that your usual 2-year-old doesn’t show. I’m glad to share this with Adrian. I think there is still upside to her.
Powell added, “I knew in the long term she could handle the jump in class. Baffert had three horses in there. You never know how good they are. For a smaller outfit like me, it’s hard to go against him, but we did that today and she came out on top. She is a big filly by Speaker’s Corner and she’s going to develop into a really nice horse.”
As for favorite Quattro Passi, she was last after the opening quarter mile and was never in contention.
“Just didn’t run a jump,” Smith said. “Nothing. Just nothing. We just hoped that she’d run her race and she didn’t. I don’t know if the heat had a lot to do with it or what. She just never picked her feet up.”
The Oak Leaf is also an official stop on the road to the 2027 Kentucky Oaks. Domain Expansion picks up 10 qualifying points with the win.
Domain Expansion paid $31.00, $8.20 and $3.40. Holmby returned $4.60 and $2.80. Quattro Passi paid $2.20.
GRADE II, OAK LEAF STAKES QUOTES
JOCKEY QUOTES
ADRIAN ESCOBEDO, DOMAIN EXPANSION, WINNER: “It feels amazing (to get first graded stakes win). She felt great, like the first time I rode her. I felt very comfortable. Mr. Powell gave me the best instructions. This filly, she is just getting started, hopefully we can go far with her Thanks to everyone for the opportunity, let’s go do this.”
MIKE SMITH, QUATTRO PASSI, THIRD: “Just didn’t run a jump. Nothing. Just nothing. We just hoped that she’d run her race and she didn’t. I don’t know if the heat had a lot to do with it or what. She just never picked her feet up.”
TRAINER QUOTES
LEONARD POWELL, DOMAIN EXPANSION, WINNER: “She is very talented. As soon as we started breezing her at Del Mar she showed things that your usual 2-year-old doesn’t show. I’m glad to share this with Adrian. I think there is still upside to her.
“I knew in the long term she could handle the jump in class. Baffert had three horses in there. You never know how good they are. For a smaller outfit like me, it’s hard to go against him, but we did that today and she came out on top. She is a big filly by Speaker’s Corner and she’s going to develop into a really nice horse.”
OWNER QUOTES
MATT DOHMAN, CALIFORNIA RACING PARTNERS, DOMAIN EXPANSION, WINNER: “We knew she was a good filly. She was training well and she has all the attributes of a stakes horse. We bought her at Keeneland, Larry Zapp, myself, and Amanda Murphy. I want to thank all the partners. We gave Adrian the mount because we were at the jockey karaoke at Del Mar and he bought me and Larry a beer. So we said we should give him a mount on a good horse.”
NOTES: The winning owners are California Racing Partners, Ciaglia Racing LLC, Allen R. Keith, and Kevin O’Donnell.
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