Kinza, Kopion Square Off Again in Santa Anita Oaks

Kinza  and Kopion  between them have a record of five wins and one second in six starts, their winning margins combined totaling 24 lengths. The only blemish for either is when Kinza defeated Kopion in the Las Virgenes Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park. So it would seem that the other three fillies racing April 6 in the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks (G2) are running strictly for third place.

Both fillies also have Hall of Fame trainers in their corner. A win by Kinza could tie Bob Baffert with Richard Mandella for four Oaks apiece, while a victory by Kopion would bring it to 5-3 in favor of Mandella. Mandella won the race with Golden Treat in 1992, Beholder  in 2013, Paradise Woods  in 2017, and Soothsay  in 2021. Baffert took it with Excellent Meeting in 1999, Composure in 2003, and Faiza  in 2023.

Kinza and Kopion will also pit the meet's current leading jockeys against one another. Leader Juan Hernandez has ridden Kinza in all of her starts and is back from post 2. Flavien Prat, second only to Hernandez, has likewise piloted Kopion every time and will return from post 3.

Kopion is an Omaha Beach   filly owned by Spendthrift Farm.

The fillies' race records are similar, each having robustly broken their maidens in their first and only start at 2, followed by two stakes attempts at 3. Kopion won the seven-furlong Santa Ynez Stakes (G3) by 5 3/4 lengths and then, in her first attempt at two turns, finished second by two lengths to Kinza in the one-mile Las Virgenes, her most recent race. Kinza made her stakes debut in the Las Virgenes and then came back in the 1 1/16-mile Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3) March 9 to win by five lengths.

Kinza, a 3-year-old daughter of Carpe Diem   owned by Michael Lund Petersen, can get a little wound up, Baffert said.

"Her worst enemy is that she is just so cranked up," he said after the Santa Ysabel. "Everyone works hard to school her and spends time with her. She is just a naturally gifted speed horse."

Baffert does have a strong Oaks backup in Nothing Like You . Fourth behind Kinza and Kopion in the Las Virgenes, Nothing Like You at 2 won the Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar and Starlet Stakes (G2) at Los Alamitos Race Course in back-to-back efforts after breaking her maiden in her fourth attempt. She gets the services of Frankie Dettori from the rail.

The Santa Anita Oaks offers Kentucky Oaks (G1) points ranging from 100 to 10 for first through fifth place to eligible horses. Under Churchill Downs' continuing suspension of Baffert stemming from Medina Spirit 's positive for betamethasone after the colt finished first in the Kentucky Derby (G1) three years ago, Kinza and Nothing Like You are ineligible to earn qualifying Oaks points and compete in the May 3 race at Churchill Downs.

The two remaining entries are maiden winner Corposo  and longshot Ifuaintfirsturlast .

The Santa Anita Oaks, the sixth race, is the first of three graded races Saturday at Santa Anita. The two others are the Monrovia Stakes (G3T), the ninth race on the card, and the featured Santa Anita Derby (G1), the day's 10th race.

The $100,000 Monrovia at 6 1/2 furlongs down the hillside turf course is led by Wishing Well Stakes 1-2 finishers Ag Bullet  and Gracelund Gray . Ice Dancing  is an early scratch.

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