Miss Lizzy (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.— Miss Lizzy earned her first stakes win Saturday at Santa Anita with a last-to-first rally in the $100,000 Mizdirection Stakes for older fillies and mares at about 6 ½ furlongs on the hillside turf course.
Ridden by Antonio Fresu, Miss Lizzy (5-1) blitzed past the entire field in the final furlong to win going away by 1 ¾ lengths. Getthemoney, the 8-5 favorite, set a contested lead and had the lead at the sixteenth pole, but she could not hold an onrushing Miss Lizzy. Chismosa (6-1) finished a half-length back of Getthemoney in third with Lucky Girl (5-1) rounding out the superfecta.
Trained by Doug O’Neill, Miss Lizzy won in a final time of 1:13.82.
“Doug brought her in ready to race,” Fresu said. “I was just bidding my time in the back just getting her comfortable. I think that was the perfect trip, going six and a half down the hill. As soon as I found the gap at the crossing, she just took off and she finished really well. She proved much the best today.”
For O’Neill, it was a white-knuckle minute plus watching Miss Lizzy and Fresu.
“What Antonio did there, I have to watch the replay,” he said. “There was a lot of ‘What is he doing. No, no, no, yes, no and Yes!’ When he found that lane the last quarter mile and he pushed on thru and she responded the way she did, thank God that stretch was long enough to get it done.”
Miss Lizzy paid $12.00, $4.80 and $3.60. Getthemoney, ridden by Juan Hernandez and trained by Brian Koriner, returned $3.20 and $2.60. Chismosa paid $4.40 to show.
A 4-year-old Classic Empire filly, Miss Lizzy is now 19: 5-6-3 with $262,820 in earnings. This was her fourth-straight stakes try and third stakes attempt down the hill. In her two previous stakes down the hill, she was third in the Wishing Well in February and second in the GIII Monrovia April 6. Most recently, she was stretched to a mile in GIII Royal Heroine April 27 and checked in sixth.
Miss Lizzy is owned by breeder Glenn Sorgenstein, WC Racing Inc. and Wonderland Racing Stables LLC.
