Santa Anita: Sugar Fish gets back to winning in Zenyatta

Back at her favorite track, Sugar Fish regained her winning form with a second graded-stakes victory, doing so in Sunday’s Grade, $200,000 Zenyatta at Santa Anita.

Sugar Fish (5-2), a 3-year-old facing older horses, ran down pacesetter Alpha Bella (5-2) inside the sixteenth pole and pulled clear to score by 1 1/2 lengths under jockey Tyler Baze.

Click here for Santa Anita entries and results.

Alpha Bella and jockey Héctor Berrios finished nine lengths clear of third-place finisher Desert Dawn (2-1). Nothing Like You, the 9-5 favorite for trainer Bob Baffert, faded to fourth after pressing Alpha Bella into the second turn.

Trained by Jeff Mullins, who was not at the race, Sugar Fish improved to 4-for-6 at Santa Anita. At the same track in June, Sugar Fish earned her first graded-stakes win in the Summertime Oaks (G2). After that 9 3/4-length romp, she went to Del Mar and tried the Clement L. Hirsch (G1) but failed to make an impact when finishing sixth in her first attempt against older horses.

“She’s back home. She’s so comfortable here and has trained so good the last week,” Baze said. “I had a lot of confidence in her, and I just rode her like that. I knew she would be there when I asked.”

A 3-year-old filly by Accelerate, Sugar Fish is owned by Talla Racing and Sweetwater Stable. She is 8: 4-1-0 with $310,040 in earnings.

Sugar Fish paid $7.20, $3.20 and $2.40. Alpha Bella returned $4.40 and $2.80 and Desert Dawn paid $2.40 to show.

Co-owner Kim Lloyd of Sweetwater Stable said he hoped this latest win could lead to a start in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar on Nov. 2.

“I would love to run in a Breeders’ Cup. Del Mar is my favorite track,” Lloyd said. “But the horse has to make that decision.”