My Sweet Addiction Surprises in Vanity
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Even without two-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder in the field, the May 9 Vanity Stakes (gr. I) provided some drama with My Sweet Addiction delivering an upset to beat 1-9 favorite Warren's Veneda in the $300,000 event at Santa Anita Park .
Pamela Ziebarth's homebred My Sweet Addiction led almost every step of the way during the 1 1/8-mile dirt test and won by a length over 7-1 Gas Total, who closed to finish second. Warren's Veneda was third, a head back.
"After the scratch of Beholder, it certainly played out the way I thought it would," winning jockey Mike Smith said. "We controlled the speed and it was just a matter of if she was going to bring her 'A' game, and she brought her 'A-plus' game today."
BALAN: Beholder Scratched From Vanity Due to Illness
My Sweet Addiction, a 5-year-old mare by Tiznow , claimed her first graded stakes with the victory on just her second try. Her first attempt resulted in a sixth-place finish in the Santa Monica (gr. II) Jan 19. She won her last start, a 1 1/16-mile allowance/optional claiming event at Santa Anita March 20, but had a five-race losing streak before that race. The Vanity was her first start at 1 1/8 miles.
"Finally, things fell into place," winning trainer Marty Jones said. "It was a long journey getting her here. She had some problems where she was getting out real bad, and we've always wanted to run her long, but she kept having trouble with the turns. She finally got to handling the turns well and we got her to run long, and that's what she wanted to do. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but we got there."
The mare set fractions of :23.98, :48.75, and 1:13.04 through six furlongs, but was off the rail for most of the journey, allowing Warren's Veneda to sneak up on the inside in the backstretch.
"With her, and especially in this race, we let her decide what strategy she wanted to use," Smith said. "We've found that if you just get along with her, she runs better, whether that be on the lead or just off of it. When you try to make her do something she seems to want to do the opposite. I just go with her and it works."
The favorite was able to get a head in front of the eventual winner exiting the final turn, but My Sweet Addiction regained her advantage, ran a mile in 1:37.35, and hit the wire in 1:49.73.
"They went way too slow," said Tyler Baze, the jockey for Warren's Veneda who rode the mare to three straight victories in the Paseana, Santa Maria (gr. II), and Santa Margarita (gr. I), all this year at Santa Anita. "I had a good trip, we got to save all the ground, and my mare ran really good, but the winner just had a lot left."
My Sweet Addiction delivered $11.20 and $17.20 while Gas Total returned $22 to place. The place prices were inflated because of a large pool wagered on Warren's Veneda. Legacy was a far-back fourth.
The winner was bred in Kentucky out of the Boston Harbor mare Healthy Addiction. Her earnings now sit at $328,106 with the $180,000 winner's share and she now has a 4-2-3 record from 10 starts.