Look Forward narrowly wins Santa Ynez & 10 Ky. Oaks points

Post-time favorite Look Forward outfought Artisma deep in the homestretch to win by a head Sunday in the $100,000 Santa Ynez Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs at Santa Anita.

For the top five finishers, the race was worth 10-5-3-2-1 points toward qualifying for the May 2 running of the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.

Click here for Santa Anita entries and results.

The victory was a poignant one for Look Forward, since it was hard not to look back to where her career began. On Nov. 8 she would be the last winner for trainer Ben Cecil, who died Nov. 29. Look Forward then was transferred into Michael McCarthy’s care. McCarthy spent his early days in the business working for Cecil as a foreman and assistant trainer.

“I’m just thankful to (owner) Paul Reddam for moving this horse over to us,” McCarthy said. “Ben and his crew did all the heavy lifting.”

Breaking alertly from post 5 in the field of eight, Look Forward (8-5) let Bob Baffert-trained Silent Law (3-1) and jockey Juan Hernández carve the early fractions up front with Tim Yakteen’s Practical Dream (15-1). She sat back to their outside taking a stalking trip in third.

Up the backstretch, jockey Mario Gutiérrez and Looking Forward swung out of the turn to take the lead. She was joined quickly by Richard Baltas-trained Artisma (10-1) with Abel Lezcano riding to her outside. Silent Law faded to third, leaving a head-to-head fight to the finish line with Look Forward getting up in the last stride.

Looking Forward shortened from a hard-fought second in the 1 1/16-mile, Grade 2 Starlet Stakes on Dec. 7 at Los Alamitos.

“Like everything this was a first-time experience for her from her first time out to the second time stretching her out, and this time taking her back down to seven furlongs, everything is kind of new to her,” Gutiérrez said. “In the beginning, I didn’t know if she knew when it was time to race, but once I asked her to engage, everything was fine.”

With the win, Looking Forward earned 10 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Oaks.

“I think when it is late in the winter here, in early spring, you start thinking about Kentucky Oaks,” McCarthy said. “Who knows how far she will run? Obviously, with her run the other day at Los Al, you would think that she would stretch out. I think once she does do that, she will be able to find herself in in a comfortable spot.”

The winning time was 1:25.42 after early fractions of 22.14, 44.98 and 1:11.46. Look Forward is 3: 2-1-0 with $132,000 in earnings for owner Reddam Racing.

Look Forward returned $5.40, $3.40 and $2.40. Second-place finisher Artisma paid $6.80, $4.60 and earned five Kentucky Oaks points. Silent Law, who finished 4 1/4 lengths back, earned three points and returned $3.20 to show. Howin got two Oaks points and A. Z. Wildcat one.