Santa Anita: Kopion leads whole way vs. 3 to win Santa Ynez
Heavily favored after a big debut win, Kopion overcame a touch of greenness early to register an impressive 5 3/4-length score against only three rivals in Sunday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita.
The race was a points prep for the Kentucky Oaks (G1). With so few horses, the points normally given to the top five finishers were allocated on a 10-5-3-2 basis. There was also no show betting.
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Trained by Richard Mandella and ridden by Flavien Prat, the 3-year-old daughter of Omaha Beach got seven furlongs in 1:23.89, leading the whole way and setting early fractions of 23.70, 46.55 and 1:10.87.
Mandella also trained Omaha Beach.
“I love him,” the Hall of Fame trainer said. “He was such a class horse, a good horse, and this filly has just been a star ever since she came back. The only time she didn’t work good was with Tamara (another 3-year-old filly). I can’t explain it, but she just didn’t want any part of it.”
Kopion broke sharply from the rail. Her primary opposition Tambo stumbled badly leaving from post 2. Kopion made an easy lead but shied a bit as the field came out of the chute to join the main track oval.
With Prat in firm control, however, Kopion recovered quickly and had a 1 1/2-length advantage on Don’t Bring Crazy three furlongs out and increased her lead to 2 1/2 lengths at the quarter pole. Hand ridden to the wire, Kopion never was threatened and galloped out powerfully.
“Her trip was good,” Prat said. “She was a bit sharper today, but she jumped well out of there, and she looked around a bit when she was on the lead. Besides that she did everything perfect.”
Off at 1-5 in her 6 1/2-furlong debut Nov. 26 at Del Mar, Kopion was again off at 1-5 vs. three rival sophomore fillies Sunday and paid $2.40 and $2.10 with no show wagering.
A $270,000 Keeneland September 2022 yearling sale graduate, Kopion is owned by Spendthrift Farm and is out of the Victory Gallop mare Galloping Ami. She picked up $60,000 for the win, increasing her bankroll to $96,600.
“It looked like when she went out to the track she settled down, she warmed up nice, and went to the gate nice,” Mandella said. “She left there running, and she kind of gave us that feeling when we were in the paddock. She showed her class.”
The longest shot in the field with Juan Hernandez up at 16-1, Don’t Bring Crazy sat second the entire trip and paid $4.60 to place after finishing 4 3/4 lengths in front of unlucky Tambo in third.
Bossy Bruin Gal (24-1) was never a threat, and she finished last, another 5 3/4 lengths up the track. The positions of the field did not change after the first quarter-mile.