Santa Anita: Explora, Mission of Joy, Tamara are stakes winners

Making her two-turn debut for trainer Bob Baffert, Explora ran to her 2-5 odds Saturday by romping to a 4 1/4-length victory in in the Grade 2, $200,000 Oak Leaf Stakes for 2-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita.

With the win, Explora earned a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.

Click here for Santa Anita entries and results.

Ridden by Juan Hernández, Explora tracked pacesetter and stablemate Himika (9-2) up the backstretch while racing three wide and in the clear. On the second turn Himika and jockey Mike Smith tried to spurt away from the field. Explora had other ideas. She kicked into gear, passed Himika heading into the stretch and then extended her advantage to the wire for the breakthrough victory.

“She relaxed really good today, and she’s improving a lot,” Hernández said. “Before she just wanted to break fast and go to the lead. But today she learned how to settle behind the pace and then responded when I asked.”

Explora, racing without blinkers for the first time, won at a time of 1:44.13 following fractions of 23.14, 46.98, 1:11.56 and 1:37.39. La Wally, the 7-2 second choice ridden by Antonio Fresu and trained by Mark Glatt, finished second by 1 1/4 lengths over La Ville Lumierie (31-1). Himika ultimately checked in fifth.

Explora is by Blame out of Bernardini mare Collections Choice. She was bought for $350,000 at this year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale by owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman.

“At the quarter pole I was wondering if she was really relaxing or not running, but we found out she was relaxing,” Baffert said. “When it was time to go, she took off. That was our plan today was to get her to relax and not go for the lead right away.”

Explora won her debut going 5 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 17. She then returned in the Del Mar Debutante (G1) going seven furlongs as the 3-5 favorite. Explora set the pace that day and was well clear of the field in the stretch, but she was unable to hold off the late charge of stablemate Bottle of Rouge, and she finished second by a length.

Explora paid $2.80, $2.20 and $2.10 on Saturday. La Wally retuned $3.20 and $2.60. La Ville Lumiere, with Kazushi Kimura aboard for trainer Michael McCarthy, paid $5.40.

Mission of Joy is Rodeo Drive winner

A desperate final surge from Mission of Joy in the $200,000 Rodeo Drive (G2) resulted in her first graded-stakes win and a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

With jockey Umberto Rispoli aboard, Mission of Joy (11-1) stormed down the middle of the stretch and, in the final stride, surged past eastern invader Speed Shopper (14-1) to win by a head. A 5-year-old mare by Kitten’s Joy, Mission of Joy is trained by Phil D’Amato and owned by RyZan Sun Racing and Madaket Stables.

“I had a really good trip,” Rispoli said. “She settled right where I wanted, and once I took her outside, she showed an incredible turn of foot. She prefers to come around horses instead of going through small gaps, and she responded beautifully today. I hadn’t worked with her before this race, but she gave me all the confidence out there.”

Speed Shopper, ridden by Kazushi Kimura for trainer Will Walden, finished a half-length in front of Starry Heavens (7-2) in third.

The winning time for Mission of Joy on firm turf was 2:00.03 following fractions of 23.63, 48.44, 1:13.04 and 1:37.36.

“She just has one style, and that usually gets her the best outcome, to kind of sit back and come with a run,” D’Amato said. “Whether it works out or not, sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t, but today it did.”

Mission of Joy made her third start for D’Amato after being based in the east with trainer Graham Motion. In two prior Southern California starts, Mission of Joy finished sixth in the Yellow Ribbon (G2) and third in the John C. Mabee (G2), both at Del Mar.

“I think also she came from back east, and the owner said that every time they ran her on a firm turf course, she ran a better race,” D’Amato said. “We get plenty of that in California, and that has helped her out as well.”

Mission of Joy improved to 21: 6-0-4 with $680,667 in earnings. She paid $25.80, $9.80 and $5.40. Speed Shopper returned $11.40 and $5.80. Starry Heavens with Antonio Fresu up for D’Amato, paid $3.60 to show.

Tamara comes back to win Chillingworth

Making her first start since November, blue-blooded filly Tamara returned a winner when she rolled to a 3 3/4-length victory in the $100,000 Chillingworth (G3) for fillies and mares sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs.

Sent off as the 2-5 favorite, Tamara stalked pacesetter Silent Law (3-1) through fractions of 21.83 and 44.06 seconds for the opening half-mile. She Silent Law entering the stretch and then motored through the lane under a hand ride from Smith for her second graded-stakes win.

“She was very eager leaving there. She actually wanted to go head to head with (Silent Law), and I had to talk her out of it a little bit,” said Smith, who has ridden Tamara in all five of her starts. “Once she hit her left lead, she hit another gear. I thought oh, my. She’s back. I think I’m blowing more than she is from just trying to pull her up.”

Trained by fellow Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, Tamara won at a time of 1:15.21.

“You really couldn’t ask for it to go any better today,” Mandella said. “Now we have to see how she comes out of this race.”

Silent Law finished 14 1/2 lengths ahead of Ang N Ash (45-1) in third with Chismosa (6-1) completing the superfecta.

By Bolt d’Oro out of Hall of Fame mare Beholder, Tamara was making her first start since Nov. 15 at Del Mar. There she finished second by a nose in a classified allowance going six furlongs. After that she was scheduled to return in the La Brea (G1) on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, but she got sick. Then in January she injured herself.

“She kicked the rail coming onto the track and chipped a sesamoid,” Mandella said. “We had the chip removed and put her out to rest. It looks good now.”

Next up for Tamara, a homebred for Spendthrift Farm, is a likely return trip to the Breeders’ Cup, this time for the Filly & Mare Sprint going seven furlongs Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

Her outing in November at Del Mar was Tamara’s only other start since the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in which she finished seventh as the odds-on favorite at Santa Ania.

Tamara improved to 5: 3-1-0 with $321,400 in earnings. In 2023 before the Breeders’ Cup, Tamara won the Del Mar Debutante (G1).

Tamara paid $2.80, $2.10 and $2.10. Silent Law, ridden by  Hernández for trainer Baffert, returned $2.60 and $2.40. Ang N Ash, with Adrian Escobedo up for trainer Ryan Hanson, paid $6.80.