Mama Mia! It's Carina Mia Impressively in the Eight Belles

Carina Mia sent off as the prohibitive 3-5 favorite in the $200,000 G2 Eight Belles did not disappoint her backers, with an impressive six-length victory over 20-1 longshot Blip N’ The Bye who was 1 3/4 lengths better than fast closing Nickname.

Having been on or just a head off the lead at the first call in all four of her previous races, the three-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon was uncharacteristically slow from the gate, yielding the early lead to the trio of Marquee Miss, Summer Reading and Blip n’ the Bye, who set the early fractions of 22.68 and 45.52. As the field raced beyond the quarter pole jockey Julien Leparoux asked Carina Mia to start her move and she responded. First splitting rivals on the turn then sweeping 3-wide to engage the early leaders at the head of the stretch. Within a few strides, she took the lead nearing the eighth pole and from there the only outcome in doubt was the margin of victory.

The pride of Three Chimneys Farm covered the seven furlongs on a fast track in 1:21.74, earning $120,280 which boosted Carina Mia’s career bankroll to $309,760. The victory ran her record at Churchill Downs to 2 for 2, as she won the G2 Golden Rod under the twin spires last November.

Winning trainer Bill Mott seemed perplexed commenting on his fillies slow start, ”That was not the original plan, but it certainly was our backup. Our conversation in the paddock was that it looks like several of them in here have same amount of speed. It looked like if we had a clean break we had as much speed as anybody.” Mott added, “Then she just maybe hesitated. You can’t hesitate very long and you get four or five outbreaking you. She got a good education out of it today.”

When asked what’s next for Carina Mia, Mott stated, “I guess the Acorn would be the next thing on the docket for her. Who knows, maybe will run into Songbird in the Acorn.”

Carina Mia went off the 3-5 Post Time favorite and returned $3.20 2.60 2.10. Those who keyed her in exotics received a treat as the 5-6 $2 Exacta paid $36.30, the $1 Trifecta of 5-6-8 returned $55.40 while #4 – Put Da Blame on Me at 26-1 completed the 5-6-8-4 $1 Superfecta that paid $552.20.