Stubbins Extends Win Streak in Pasadena Stakes
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Stubbins wins the Pasadena Stakes
Off a pair of slim victories sprinting down the hillside turf course at Santa Anita Park, McShane Racing's Stubbins stretched out and switched surfaces to earn his first stakes win in the off-the-turf Pasadena Stakes March 2.
Moved to the Santa Anita main track because of wet conditions Saturday in Southern California, the $100,000 race at a mile on the sloppy (sealed) surface was dominated by the Doug O'Neill-trained Morning Line colt.
Off as the 9-5 second choice in the field of five 3-year-olds, Stubbins went to the front immediately under jockey Tyler Baze from the inside post and took pressure from Eagle Song through a half-mile as he set fractions of :23.14 and :46.02 with a half-length advantage. By the time Stubbins reached the quarter pole, that margin grew to 4 1/2 lengths. He continued to pull away in the stretch to win by eight lengths and stopped the clock in 1:36.15. Neptune's Storm finished second, a half-length ahead of Mayor Cobb.
"It's not every day you get a good 3-year-old colt that comes around this time of year," Baze said. "Hopefully, I get to stick with him and we'll see how far we'll go, because he's pretty nice. I've never ridden him before, but from watching tape of all four of his races, he seemed very push-button.
"It sure looked like he's a horse that wants to go, and I'm glad they didn't change the game plan in the paddock."
Stubbins began his career sprinting on the dirt during the summer at Del Mar in 2018 and placed in a pair of maiden special weight events before he moved to the grass and broke his maiden by a nose Jan. 5 at Santa Anita. He followed that effort with a neck allowance win Feb. 10 at Santa Anita.
"When we ran him at Del Mar, we knew he was legit, but he had some issues with his shins, so we gave him time off," said Leandro Mora, O'Neill's top assistant. "He's going up the ladder now—getting better and better with each race. This was huge today."
Bred in Kentucky by Patrick Durtschi and Brittney Durtschi, out of the Atraf mare Sierra Vista, Stubbins now has $146,400 in earnings and has never finished out of the top three in his five starts. He was a $130,000 purchase by McShane Racing owner Jack McShane out of the 2018 Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.