Got Koko completes La Canada sweep

ARCADIA, Calif. - Got Koko became only the third filly to sweep the three-race La Canada Series with a hard-fought win in Saturday's $200,000 at Santa Anita.

It was not an easy victory for Got Koko, who raced wide through the 1 1/8 miles.

Breaking from the outside post in the field of five 4-year-old fillies, Got Koko was three wide on the first turn and backstretch, tracking the pace of Sightseek, who set fractions of 23.03 and 46.67 seconds.

At the three-eighths pole, jockey Alex Solis urged Got Koko toward Sightseek and Bella Bellucci, who stalked the pace throughout while racing two wide. But Solis did not get a significant response from Got Koko until the quarter pole. In early stretch, Got Koko, still wide, slowly caught Bella Bellucci and Sightseek to win by three-quarters of a length.

"When I got to the five-sixteenths pole, I got after her," Solis said. "I knew she'd keep going and she did."

Got Koko ($6.20) finished 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.41.

Sightseek, sent off as the 4-5 favorite following a second in the Santa Monica Handicap Jan. 25, finished second, followed by Bella Bellucci, Bare Necessities, and Revenante.

Got Koko joined Taisez Vous (1978) and Mitterand (1985) as winners of the La Canada series. The series includes the seven-furlong La Brea Stakes in late December and the El Encino Stakes over 1 1/16 miles in mid-January.

Owned by Aase Headley and Paul Leung, the Texas-bred Got Koko has won 6 of 10 starts and $452,946. Aside from the three La Canada series stakes, she also won the restricted Torrey Pines Stakes over a mile at Del Mar last summer.