Towes on ice impressive in Speakeasy

Arcadia, CA

Towes On Ice cruised to victory in the $70,000 Speakeasy Stakes Sunday at Santa Anita.

Jockey Victor Espinoza just had to give a slight tap on the shoulder around the turn to strike the front and kick clear to an impressive 4 1/4 length win.

Front running Big Finish set standard fractions of :22 and :45 for this type of race while Towes On Ice sat right off his number in second before taking command at the top of the stretch.

This was Towes on Ice second career victory and back-to-back wins by a combined 11+ lengths. 

The favored two-year-old colt dominated the race, but ran the 6 furlongs in a normal time for the conditions in 1:09.74.

Second place finisher Street Vision was the only one trying to make this a race, but still finished well back. While Blameitonthelaw rounded out the top three in the five horse field.

Towes On Ice, named for Chicago Blackhawks champion forward Jonathan Towes, returned $3.40 to win.    

Belle Hill ships and wins Autumn Miss Stakes

Arcadia, CA

Belle Hill shipped down to California from Washington's Emerald Downs to take the Grade III Autumn Miss Stakes at Santa Anita Saturday by a half-length.

Speed has been holding well and jockey Leslie Mawing knew he had to be close to the front. Sitting third and three lengths off the hot pace of :22 and :45 opening splits.  

Belle Hill took the lead in deep stretch after pace setter Dreamologist weakened to ninth and second place finisher Paulina's Love could not hold her off in the lane. 

Paulina's Love ran a very game second, after sitting right behind the leader throughout and taking the lead at the top of stretch to only lose by a half-length.

Favored Singling Kitty closed well to finish third after a slow break, but did not threaten the top two.

Belle Hill's winning turf debut gives her four straight wins overall and her first graded stakes victory.

She ran the 1 mile turf race in a standard time for the conditions in 1:35.10 and returned $21.20 to win. 

Surfside Tiara rallies to victory in the anoakia

With a ton of speed up front, Surfside Tiara rallied deep stretch to take the $70,000 Anoakia Stakes Sunday at Santa Anita.

Surfside Tiara broke second to last, but with half the field going to the lead that was not a problem.

Jockey Rafael Bejarano sat patiently behind the quad leaders, found room around the turn and overtook a very game Uptown Twirl for the win.

Surfside Tiara ran the six furlongs in 1:10.84. Not the quickest of times for the distance, but got the job done returning $7.60 on the nose.

Uptown Twirl was the only one to stay strong out of the quadruple leaders and ran a strong race to finish second by a 1/2 length.

Find Joy was a well beaten third. Finishing 6 1/2 lengths further back. While favored Miss Big Stuff weakened around the turn to fourth.

Surfside Tiara is now two-for-four in her career and this was her first stakes victory. 

Stays in Vegas kicks clear in Surfer Girl

Arcadia, CA

Stays in Vegas gets the perfect trip and disposes of her rivals down the stretch in the Surfer Girl Stakes Saturday afternoon at Santa Anita.

Lucky Folie set fast fractions for the distance with a half in :46. She had a clear lead until mid-stretch, but did not give up easily. Finishing the race second until being moved down to third for causing interference in the lane.

Folie veered into the rail down the stretch and forced Mirage to take up sharply. Mirage was squeezing through on the inside and finished the race third, but was officially moved up to second after this incident.

Stays in Vegas saved all the ground on the rail sitting third behind the speed. Grabbed the lead down the stretch after a three-wide move and never looked back.

Ridden to victory by jockey Alex Solis she return $17.40 to win. With a final time of 1:35.23 for the one-mile turf race.

The 9-5 favorite Jakaby Jade lost two left shoes during the race and never got involved finishing sixth.

Stays in Vegas is now three for four lifetime and showed a very nice turn of foot in this victory.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer hasn't mentioned her next race. 

Ben's Duchess Last to First in LA Woman

Arcadia, CA

Ben's Duchess took advantage of a rare four horse duel up front to rally past the entire field en-route to victory in the LA Woman Stakes Sunday.

Jockey Joe Talamo saw the whole race unfold in front of him and went five-wide turning for home. Pulling away to a 3 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 stakes for fillies and mares.

Uzziel finished a clearly beaten second just inside of favorited Taris in third.

Ben's Duchess ran the six furlongs in 1:15.79 and paid $19.60 to win.

This was the 3-year-old filly's first graded stakes victory. Bringing her win mark to four in nine starts for trainer John Sadler.