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Lady Claypoole. (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif. — Lady Claypoole, making her stakes debut after back-to-back allowance wins, rallied from last under Tiago Pereira and drew off in the stretch to score by 2 ½ lengths in the GIII, $100,000 Santa Ana Stakes for older fillies and mares going 1 ¼ miles on turf at Santa Anita.
Trained by Richard Baltas, Lady Claypoole (11-1) settled at the back of the pack as longshot Omaha Girl (20-1) set the pace with 1-2 favorite Kathynmarissa, tracking in second under Frankie Dettori. It was on the second turn Lady Claypoole made her move. She went widest of all around the bend to draw into contention, surged past Omaha Girl at the furlong marker and pulled clear for the breakthrough stakes win.
Mrs. Astor, the 3-1 second choice who entered with consecutive graded stakes wins, finished second by a half-over European import Starry Heavens. Lady Claypoole’s winning time was 2:01.40 following fractions of 23.75, 47.70, 1:12.36 and 1:37.45 for the opening mile.
“She’s been getting good,” Baltas said of the winner. “She’s been training down at San Luis Rey Downs, and they are doing a great job with her.”
Pereira has been aboard for all three of Lady Claypoole’s recent wins. The 48-year-old native of Brazil also won last year’s Santa Ana with Linda’s Gift for trainer Richard Mandella.
“I saw there were a couple of horses with speed, and I thought the pace might be pretty good,” Pereira said. “She broke so relaxed and never pulled. Then at the three-eighths pole, she asked me. I held her just for just a little bit, then asked her at the quarter pole and she flew home.”
Bred in Ireland, Lady Claypoole is a 5-year-old mare by Starspangledbanner. On Jan. 26 at Santa Anita, she cleared her first-level allowance condition in what was her 10th attempt at the level. Lady Claypoole came back just 14 days later and scored in a second-level allowance. Both were going 1 1/8 miles on turf.
Baltas praised Pereira for playing a big role in Lady Claypoole’s recent run of success.
“Tiago fits her,” Batlas said. “He just gets her to settle and he saves ground. He has given her three perfect rides. I have to give a lot of credit to him.”
Lady Claypoole began her career in Europe before coming stateside and being based in the east with trainer Mike Maker. She was transferred to Baltas and sent to Southern California last winter. Owned by Abbondanza Racing and Omar Aldabbagh, Lady Claypoole improved to 19: 4-2-2 with $227,428 in earnings.
As the fourth choice in a field of seven, Lady Claypoole paid $25.40, $8.60 and $5.60. Mrs. Astor, ridden by Umberto Rispoli for trainer Jonathan Thomas, returned $5.40 and $3.80. Starry Heavens, with Antonio Fresu up for trainer Phil D’Amato, paid $7.80.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Santa Anita with a 10-race card starting at 1 p.m. PT.
