Harlington's Rose Rallies to Take Las Flores
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It was a very formful finish in the $100,000 Las Flores Stakes (gr. III) March 8 at Santa Anita Park.
Harlington's Rose had the same off-the-pace trip she employed to win the Kalookan Queen Stakes Dec. 28 to earn her first graded stakes victory Sunday while defeating a pair of the same foes.
The 4-year-old filly by Harlington broke from the inside post in the field of six older fillies and mares, and settled into fifth place as early leader Tribal Gal ran the first quarter mile in :21.70 and the half in :44.78.
She inched forward with jockey Joe Talamo leaving the backstretch and was shuffled back into the turn, but ran down second-place finisher Meinertzhageni—who had taken over the lead momentarily after stalking the pace—in the stretch to win by three-quarters of a length.
"I was following Global Hottie and she came out at the half-mile pole, so I went inside and she ducked back in," Talamo said. "I had to take up a little bit, but fortunately I had enough horse to get her momentum going again."
Trained by Steve Knapp, who enjoyed the second graded stakeswin of his career, Harlington's Rose covered the six furlongs in 1:09.64 on fast track.
"I didn't think we should have got 5-1 (odds) today," Knapp said. "They call me Rodney Dangerfield, but I don't mind.
"She has developed. When she was (2- and 3-years-old), she wanted to run off. Now, she's learned how to relax behind horses and this made her a much, much better horse."
A head back in third was Global Hottie, and Tribal Gal was fourth. Both finished behind Harlington's Rose in the Kalookan Queen in December.
Even-money favorite Global Hottie at first prompted the pace inside, then eased back and came out in the backstretch. The 4-year-old filly by Dixie Chatter and trained by Bob Baffert, never seemed comfortable in the early stages of the race, but rallied back to finish third.
"I sent her, but we couldn't go with Tribal Gal, so I decided to sit back and it didn't work out," Global Hottie's jockey, Victor Espinoza, said. "She isn't very aggressive when she's behind horses."
Bred in California by Y-Lo Racing Stables out of the Orientate mare A Rose for You, Harlington's Rose improved her record to 4-5-2 from 21 career starts and increased her earnings $371,040 for the ownership group of Thomas Halasz, Ryan Johnson, Paul Newhart, and Martha Miller. She was purchased by Newhart for $20,000 at the 2012 Barretts October yearling sale. McCarthy Bloodstock, agent, consigned.
Talamo tallied his third graded stakes victory of the year and the winner paid $12, $5, and $3 across the board. Meinertzhageni delivered $6 and $3, while Global Hottie returned $2.60 to show.
"You can put her in any spot and she's definitely a good horse," Talamo said. "It was a real nice race. I was able to save some ground on the turn, and she came out and just blasted off. I think Steve could have rode her today."
Longshots Sagebrush Queen and Liza Doolittle Day crossed the wire fifth and sixth, respectively, to complete the order of finish. Patriotic Brother was scratched.