Grazed My Heart gets up in final strides of California Cup Oaks
ARCADIA, Calif. - Grazed My Heart was last on the turn in Saturday’s $200,000 California Cup Oaks at Santa Anita, a position where jockey Hector Berrios did not expect to have his filly when he studied the race shape.
Yet, Berrios made the most of the situation, patiently moving Grazed My Heart past five rivals and into third place with a sixteenth of a mile remaining in the one-mile turf race for 3-year-old statebred fillies.
In deep stretch, Berrios moved Grazed My Heart outside of pacesetters Sell the Dream and Cast Member, a move that led to a win. In the final strides, Grazed My Heart caught Sell My Dream to cause a minor upset.
“I waited inside and when I got clear I went,” Berrios said. “She responded.”
Grazed My Heart ($13.80) was timed in 1:37.41 and won by a nose. Grazed My Heart earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 72.
Sell the Dream, the 6-5 favorite who set the pace while closely followed by Cast Member, held second. Cast Member (7-2) finished third, a half-length behind Sell the Dream.
Sell the Dream, who set fractions of 23.62 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 47.94 for a half-mile, withstood a threat from Cast Member in the stretch, but lost her advantage in the final stride to Grazen My Heart.
“I don’t think she saw the horse on the outside,” said jockey Flavien Prat, who rode Sell the Dream.
Golden Again finished fourth, followed by Carole Lombard, Cholly, Quickly Park It and Loyal to a Fault.
The California Cup Oaks was Cast Member’s first loss in her fourth start. She won two stakes for statebred 2-year-old fillies on dirt last year and had her turf debut in the California Cup Oaks.
Grazed My Heart, by Grazen, won for the second time in seven starts in the California Cup Oaks. Grazed My Heart was claimed for $50,000 from a maiden race for statebreds at 5 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 19 by current owners Mark and Patricia Cofer and Keith and Priscilla Webb family trust.
Trained by Jeff Mullins since the claim, Grazed My Heart was second and first in maiden races at a mile on turf in August and October before finishing second in her stakes debut behind Cast Member in the Soviet Problem Stakes at a mile at Los Alamitos on Dec. 11.
Grazed My Heart has earned $198,020 in her career.
The win came hours after Mullins was suspended 15 days and fined $1,500 for a medication violation found in one of his runners at Del Mar last summer.
The suspension runs from Jan. 24 to Feb. 7 and was part of a stipulated agreement between the California Horse Racing Board and Mullins, according to a ruling published by Santa Anita stewards.
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