Switch Strolls Home in Santa Monica

C R K Stable's SWITCH (Quiet American) bided her time in third during the early running of Sunday's $250,000 Santa Monica S. (G1) at Santa Anita Park, swooped around her rivals entering the stretch and pulled away to record an easy 3 1/2-length victory under jockey Joel Rosario. The John Sadler trainee was returning here off a four-length romp in the December 26 La Brea S. (G1), and boosted her career mark to 12-5-3-2, $782,600, with this one while paying $2.60, $2.20 and $2.10.

"These are the hardest ones to win, when you're the heavy favorite," Sadler said. "She got the best draw. You want to be on the outside going seven-eighths. It gives you a long time down the backside to get position. The way the track's been playing a little bit, we said don't let anybody steal it. Keep a close eye on 'em. (Rosario) was a little closer than maybe I thought he might be, but speed's been kind of holding so I didn't want anybody to get away with a cheap lead. When you think you have the best horse, you want him up close and clear and he did that exactly right."

Sent off the 1-5 favorite, Switch settled into third outside of the pacesetting Pica Slew (Pico Central [Brz]) through splits of :22 2/5 and :45. Sandwiched in between those two was Quisisana (Decarchy), and those three maintained their positions all the way around the backstretch. Rosario let out a notch on Switch and the bay miss responded with an increase in momentum that seemed to catapult her to the front. From there it was a simply a matter of the margin of victory, as Switch crossed under the wire in a final time of 1:20 3/5 for seven furlongs on the fast main track.

"I didn't think it would set up that easy," Rosario mused. "She's a nice horse and she's improving more and more everyday. John (Sadler) told me to stay close to the pace, and those were the only instructions he gave me. She's just a really nice horse."