Maysam noses out Supa Speed in devalued Kentucky Oaks prep
Only 13 days after her Sunland Park Oaks disappointment, Maysam outdueled post-time favorite Supa Speed to win by a nose Sunday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes for only four 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.
The Kentucky Oaks (G1) prep that normally would have been worth 50-25-15-10-5 points for the top five finishers had its qualifying points cut by 50% when the field was reduced by race-day scratches to only four starters.
Click here for Santa Anita entries and results.
Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Juan Hernández, Maysam (3-2) took the early lead in the two-turn, 1 1/16-mile race with turf convert Supa Speed (1-1) stalking her through early fractions of 23.45, 47.74 and 1:12.31.
With Maysam to the inside and Supa Speed one path to her outside, the two leaders raced shoulder to shoulder passing the quarter pole and stayed that way for the rest of the race. After a mile in 1:38.88, Maysam got her nose down at the finish line to win with a time of 1:45.62 on the fast main track.
Howin (7-2), a stablemate of Maysam, finished 6 1/2 lengths back in third, and Just as Fancy (13-1) was a non-threatening fourth, 20 more lengths behind. Maysam paid $5.00 and $2.60 and Supa Speed $2.20. There was no show betting.
Cipriani, also trained by Baffert, and Hey Jessie were scratched Sunday morning, leaving the race to lose 50% of its Kentucky Oaks prep points for having fewer than five starters. That meant Maysam earned her first 25 points to reach ninth place on the qualifying leaderboard. Supa Speed collected 12 1/2, Howin 7 1/2 to bring her total to 9 1/2 and Just as Fancy five to reach a total of 11.
A $500,000 Game Winner filly owned by Michael Lund Petersen, Maysam was coming back from a sixth-place finish as the 1-9 favorite Feb. 16 in the Sunland Park Oaks. She made a winning debut one start before that going 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita.
With the $60,000 first-place money, Maysam ran her purse earnings to $98,500 from a record of 3: 2-0-0.