Santa Anita: Odds-on favorite Motorious takes Joe Hernández

Motorious, coming back from a runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, used a late surge under jockey Antonio Fresu to prevail narrowly in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Joe Hernández Stakes going about 6 1/2 furlongs on Santa Anita’s hillside turf course.

Sent off the 4-5 favorite, Motorious settled comfortably in mid-pack as 68-1 long shot Code Duello sprinted down the hill and set fractions of 21.81 and 43.78 seconds. Racing directly to the inside of Motorious throughout was 12-1 Sumter ridden by Mike Smith.

After Code Duello reached the sixteenth pole in 1:06.07, he began to fade, and Sumter and Motorious found themselves in a duel to the wire. Sumter appeared to have a slight advantage in the late going, but Motorious dug in gamely to get the edge and win by a head.

“He’s proved to be a very good horse sprinting and going down the hill,” said Fresu, who also rode Motorious in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. “Today I tried to give him a really good warmup. He was kind of slow in the beginning, and it was kind of hard to get into his rhythm. When I let him loose down the lane, he just kept grinding, and I thought he finished best.”

Irideo (16-1), ridden by Héctor Berrios, finished another 1 1/2 lengths back in third. Code Duello held on to complete the superfecta, which returned $125.60 for 10 cents.

Motorious, trained by Phil D’Amato, won with a time of 1:11.86 on the firm turf.

“I was very nervous,” D’Amato said. “Mike Smith slipped up on the inside and got the jump on us. It was a dogfight from there on out. Luckily, we prevailed.”

Motorious is owned by Anthony Fanticola. Bred in England, where he began his career, the 6-year-old gelding by Muhaarar improved to 21: 8-5-2 with $807,604 in earnings. This was his fourth career stakes win.

Before being defeated by just a neck in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 2, Motorious won the Green Flash (G3) for the second year in a row at Del Mar on Aug. 31. He also won last year’s San Simeon (G3) on Santa Anita’s hillside turf course.

D’Amato said Motorious would get a break and likely return for a 7-year-old campaign in April or May.

Motorious paid $3.80, $3.00 and $2.40. Sumter, trained by Richard Mandella, returned $8.40 and $6.60. Irideo, ridden by Hector Berrios for trainer Marcelo Polanco, paid $6.20.