Going to Vegas Leads the Way to Rodeo Drive Victory
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Going to Vegas (inside) holds off Luck to win the Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita Park
Going to Vegas is going to the Breeders' Cup.
The 4-year-old Goldencents filly bounded to the lead under Umberto Rispoli and stayed there Oct. 2 in the $302,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1T) at Santa Anita Park, earning her first top-level victory by a head and securing an automatic berth in the Nov. 6 Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) through the Breeders' Cup Challenge series.
Going to Vegas came off a win in the Sept. 4 John C. Mabee Stakes (G2T) at Del Mar and has now won three in a row for Abbondanza Racing, Medallion Racing, and MyRacehorse.
Her fellow Richard Baltas trainee Luck , the 2-1 second choice off a huge Aug. 7 allowance win at Del Mar, made a bold run after racing off the pace under Flavien Prat, and even though she could not get to the winner in time, Baltas was beyond pleased with the result.
"I'm thrilled with both performances," he said. "Going to Vegas has the tactical speed and loves going a mile and a quarter, and she showed it. It was a great ride by (Rispoli). My other horse, Luck, really moved up in class. I was really happy with her performance. She really improved in a grade 1. I'm looking forward to the future with her.
"We will see how the two horses come out of the race tomorrow, but I feel that both horses are heading to the Breeders' Cup."
After galloping through splits of :24.35, :48.72, 1:13.49, and 1:36.35, Going to Vegas kicked into high gear upon Rispoli's cue turning for home to finish in 1:58.84 on a firm course. She returned $4.20. Dogtag finished third, 3 1/2 lengths in front of Neige Blanche .
"I was busy because I could feel Flavien was coming. I knew he was coming fast, but we handled pretty well," Prat said. "I credit the owners and Richard as well. She's a grade 1 winner now. The next step is a Breeders' Cup."
Bred in Kentucky by J. Kirk and Judy Robison out of the black-type winning Johannesburg mare Hard to Resist, Going to Vegas notched her third graded stakes score to improve her record to 7-8-2 from 22 starts, with earnings of $634,151. She is the first stakes winner out of her dam, who also produced the winning Diabolical filly Very Cherry. The mare has a yearling Grazen filly named Brand Loyalty, produced a colt by Om Feb. 18, and was bred back to Grazen for 2022.