Charmaine's Mia Handles Added Distance in Buena Vista

There's something about Southern California living that has brought out the very best in Charmaine's Mia.

The 5-year-old daughter of The Factor  made her first 25 starts for owner/trainer Michael McDonald at Woodbine and Gulfstream Park, and enjoyed moderate success with four wins and four seconds. Though on the three occasions McDonald elected to try her in graded stakes company, she was unplaced.

So it was not surprising when McDonald sold her to Agave Racing Stable, now partners in the mare with Rockin Robin Racing Stables, and she was shipped west to trainer Phil D'Amato's barn that she would be sent off at 16-1 in the six-furlong Las Cienegas Stakes (G3T) at Santa Anita Park. The surprise came from her 2 1/2-length victory over grade 2 winner Jolie Olimpica in her debut for D'Amato Jan. 9.

After Charmaine's Mia did not meet the conditions for the restricted Feb. 15 Wishing Well Stakes, D'Amato thought big and settled on the one-mile, two-turn $202,000 Buena Vista Stakes (G2T) at The Great Race Place, even though the mare was 0-for-1 at a mile on turf and had primarily been a sprinter for McDonald.

"We were always thinking about trying two turns and this is the perfect opportunity to give it a shot," D'Amato said on TVG before the race.

D'Amato's insight and her preference for her California surroundings blended quite well Feb. 20 as she grabbed the lead approaching the quarter pole and then held off a stretch bid from grade 1 winner Mucho Unusual to notch a length victory under Flavien Prat in the Buena Vista.

Now, Charmaine's Mia has D'Amato doing some California dreamin' about an even bigger challenge for his mare.

"This is huge. Flavien said there was more in the tank and she rated nice," D'Amato said. "If she needed to go a little farther, he didn't think it was a problem. That definitely broadens her horizons and maybe has us looking at grade 1s."

Considering how Charmaine's Mia led through a :43.80 half-mile in the Las Cienegas, she figured to be in front early in the Buena Vista, but when Bohemian Bourbon rushed out for the lead from the rail, Prat wisely reined in his mare to cruise along in second behind the 41-1 shot through fractions of :22.65 and :45.93.

Once the favored Charmaine's Mia ($4.60) kicked clear turning for home, George Krikorian's Mucho Unusual came off the rail to swing three-wide and take aim at her in the stretch, but the 5-year-old Mucho Macho Man  mare was unable to gain much ground in the final furlong and settled for second, snapping her streak of two straight wins in grade 3 company.

The final time was 1:33.93 on firm turf.

Bought by Cool Hill Farm for $4,000 from the Allied Bloodstock consignment at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, the mare bred by Gunpowder Farms out of the stakes-winning Bernstein mare Charming Vixen now has a record of 6-4-2 from 27 starts with earnings of $352,976.

Mucho Unusual, trained by Tim Yakteen, was three-quarters of a length ahead of fellow California-bred Benjamin and Sally Warren's Warren's Showtime, a daughter of Clubhouse Ride trained by Craig Lewis.