Toinette comes back running to win Santa Anita's Autumn Miss
Idle since early July, trainer Neil Drysdale’s Toinette came back running in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Autumn Miss Stakes at Santa Anita Park, where she rallied boldly turning for home en route to an authoritative 2 ¼-length win over favored Ms Bad Behavior. Ridden by Flavien Prat, the 3-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy got a mile on turf in 1:33.11.
Fourth at the rail with about four lengths to make up turning for home, Toinette wheeled three-wide off the turn and blew by both Streak of Luck and the favorite in short order to register her second graded stakes victory.
“The pace was strong and I wasn’t expecting that,” said Prat, who has now ridden Toinette in her last four starts, winning three of them. “She was comfortable the whole way and gave me a nice kick turning for home. Neil did a great job coming into today and she was ready.”
Ninth at odds of 7-2 in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks July 7, Toinette was the 2-1 second choice in this field of 14 fillies and mares and paid $6.80, $3.60 and $2.80.
Owned by Ken Baca, Lisa and Nicholas Hawkins and Joseph and Lynne Hudson, Toinette, who is out of the Sunriver mare I Bet Toni Knows, also won the Grade 3 Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs two starts back on May 4 and now has four wins from six starts. With the winner’s check of $60,000, her earnings stand at $258,920.
“I was concerned about the 14-horse field and I thought she was very well ridden,” said Drysdale. “We had a fast pace and that did set it up a bit. This is a very nice filly. She was injured in the Belmont Oaks.”
Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Ms Bad Behavior broke sharply and showed the way until overtaken a furlong out by the winner. Off at 9-5, she finished a half length in front of Streak of Luck and paid $3.20 and $2.40.
Well positioned while a close second a quarter mile from home, Streak of Luck appeared poised to challenge the favorite turning for home, but was third-best on the day. Off at 7-1 with Mike Smith, Streak of Luck finished 3 ¼ lengths in front of longshot K P Pergoliscious and paid $3.60 to show.
Fractions on the race were 22.24, 45.65, 1:09.23 and 1:21.29.