Mrs. Astor. (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.— Mrs. Astor needed all her class to prevail in Saturday’s $100,000 Possibly Perfect Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 ¼ miles on turf. By far the most accomplished in the field, multiple graded stakes winner Mrs. Astor surged past rivals in the final strides and won by a nose for her fourth stakes victory in her last five starts.
Ridden by Umberto Rispoli for trainer Jonathan Thomas, Mrs. Astor settled behind stablemates Kentucky Gal and Starry Heavens, as that pair showed the way around the oval. Racing directly inside of Mrs. Astor was 18-1 longshot Mahina, who had Hector Berrios aboard.
Kentucky Gal set moderate fractions of 24.35, 48.29, 1:13.11 and 1:37.54 for a mile. She continued to lead Starry Heavens by a head at the eighth pole but diving to the inside was Mahina with Mrs. Astor also taking aim at the leaders from the outside. In the final 100 yards, Mrs. Astor dug in and nailed Mahina on the wire for the victory. It was another neck back to Starry Heavens in third, who finished a head in front of Kentucky Gal in fourth.
“I play it the way it comes up. I knew Kentucky Gal was supposed to be on the lead and the other one (Starry Heavens) was right beside her. I tried to keep my outside clean.,” Rispoli said. “I knew Hector was going to ride the rail. He finally found the rail and left me with a hard job. But how the race played, I thought she made a wonderful effort. She did just enough to win the race.”
Mrs. Astor won in a time of 2:00.69. A 5-year-old Lookin at Lucky mare, Mrs. Astor was also entered in Sunday’s GIII San Juan Capistrano against males going about 1 ¾ miles. Prior to the Possibly Perfect, Mrs. Astor won the 1 ½-mile Santa Barbara on May 4. Thomas liked the idea of going further in the San Juan, but ultimately elected to stay with females in the Possibly Perfect.
“She is such a cool filly and reliable. Things were against her today with the cut back and the kind of paceless race,” Thomas said. “It turned into a tactical affair and the last eighth of a mile she came up with the goods. We are just so proud of her. We are really blessed to have her.”
Mrs. Astor is a homebred for George Strawbridge Jr.’s Augustin Stables. Prior to the Santa Barbara, she won the GIII Robert J. Frankel in December at Santa Anita and the GIII Red Carpet at Del Mar in November. Her only loss since the Red Carpet was a runner-up effort in the GIII Santa Ana at 1 ¼ miles in March.
“I think any horse going a route of ground is better when they get a chance to drop the bridle which is very important,” Thomas said. “I think the real important thing was it turned into a sprint the eighth of a mile home. While she seems like she has a turn of foot, she doesn’t have that miler turn of foot. So that played against her that way. But Umberto rode her with a lot of confidence and tactically did all the right things.”
Mrs. Astor improved to 19: 6-5-3 with $495,235 in earnings.
Mrs. Astor paid $2.80, $2.20 and $2.10. Mahina, trained by Patrick Gallagher, returned $6.40 and $5.00. Starry Heavens, with Antonio Fresu up for trainer Phil D’Amato, paid $3.20.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Santa Anita, which is closing day of the Hollywood Meet. A big 12-race card is set highlighted by the GIII San Juan Capistrano Stakes. First post is 12:30 p.m. PT.
