Watch This Cat Takes Sloppy Las Cienegas
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Watch This Cat and jockey Corey Nakatani win the Las Cienegas Stakes
Harry Bederian, Harout Kamberian, and Hagop Nakkashian's Watch This Cat had raced on turf, synthetic, and a fast dirt track, but it was in slop that she secured her first stakes win.
In an off-the-turf edition of the $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes Jan. 7, the 5-year-old Eskendereya mare stalked the pace early, pulled alongside frontrunner Paquita Coqueta in the turn, and skipped along the sloppy Santa Anita Park main track to kick away from the field and win by 8 1/2 lengths.
Paquita Coqueta set swift fractions of :21.58 and :44.44 through a half-mile, but was no match for the Richard Baltas-trained Watch This Cat as the pair turned for home. It was the third straight victory for Watch This Cat, who came into the Las Cienegas off a pair of allowance wins over Santa Anita's hillside turf course.
"This horse has won down the hill both times and she's impressed me," Baltas said. "I was excited about today, but the only thing was that we didn't know about the dirt."
Watch This Cat finished off the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.41 under jockey Corey Nakatani and Paquita Coqueta held for second.
"She loved it," Nakatani said. "She didn't turn a hair out there, and she was focused and spot-on. She was ready to go today. I was going down the (backstretch) with a big grin on my face. I was just cruising. I pounced on them when she was ready to go."
Favored Cadet Roni, who trailed in the four-horse field early, passed a tiring Lajatico late for third, but was never a threat to the top two.
Automatically downgraded from its grade 3 status because of the surface switch, the Las Cienegas will be reevaluated by the American Graded Stakes Committee as to whether it should retain its grade. Graded winner Prize Exhibit scratched when the race was taken off the grass.
Bred in Kentucky by Hinkle Farms out of the Dayjur mare Informative Style, Watch This Cat now has 4-4-1 record from 16 starts, with $164,220 in earnings. Since Baltas claimed the her for $32,000 in June, Watch This Cat has won or placed in all five of her starts.