Sugar Fish Overcomes Stumble to Soar in Summertime Oaks
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Despite a poor start, Sugar Fish becomes a graded stakes winner in the Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita Park
When Sugar Fish stumbled badly at the start of the June 8 Summertime Oaks (G2) at Santa Anita Park, co-owner Michael Talla figured the race was over for her.
"She gave up four or five lengths right off the bat," Talla said. "Usually, when you're in this kind of competition, if you make a mistake like that you're usually done. I think if she wouldn't have fallen down, she may not have won. I think she just got mad."
Sugar Fish overcame a huge disadvantage at the start of the 1 1/16-mile Oaks, which drew a small field of four headed by 1-2 favorite Nothing Like You . Even without the stumble, Sugar Fish was up against it. Nothing Like You was coming off a terrific win in the Santa Anita Oaks (G2), while Sugar Fish had never competed in any stakes, let alone at the graded level.
After the stumble, Sugar Fish trailed as undefeated Jane Austen set a moderate pace of :23.80 for the first quarter-mile. Nothing Like You and Show Card , both trained by Bob Baffert, sat just off Jane Austen's pace, with Nothing Like You poised to repeat her Santa Anita Oaks victory.
But at jockey Tyler Baze's urging, Sugar Fish catapulted herself to the lead on the rail in a stunningly fast move. Her momentum carried her further and further ahead, and she ultimately scored by 9 3/4 lengths, nearly the same margin in which she had defeated maiden optional claiming company two races back March 29 at Santa Anita.
Sugar Fish stopped the timer in 1:43.41 as the 5-1 longest shot on the board. Nothing Like You finished second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Jane Austen, with Show Card well back in fourth.
"We were taking a big chance going into this race, but we've always known that she is a great filly," said trainer Jeff Mullins.
Mullins trains Sugar Fish for Talla's Talla Racing and Kim Lloyd's Sweetwater Stable. The owners credited Mullins with turning her around after the filly was transferred to his barn following two unplaced efforts at age 2.
"She tied up in the back, and she was just not doing well," Lloyd said. "Jeff Mullins is as fine a horseman as there is in the country. We sent her to Jeff and said she could run because in her races as a 2-year-old, she finished and showed some run. But she wasn't right."
For Mullins, Sugar Fish, named for a Los Angeles-area sushi restaurant that Talla likes to frequent, has run second once and won three consecutive races.
Lloyd and Talla purchased Sugar Fish for $40,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the Penn Sales consignment. Bred by George Gilbert in Kentucky, the filly is out of the graded stakes-winning Langfuhr mare Madeira Park , who has also produced stakes-placed Hartel .
Sugar Fish is by Accelerate , champion older dirt male of 2018, the year he won the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Accelerate initially stood at Lane's End Farm, but late last year was pensioned and moved to the Kentucky Horse Park's Hall of Champions.