Hard Not to Like rides rail to win Gamely

ARCADIA, Calif. – The situation was desperate.

Hard Not to Like was roaring with energy in deep stretch of Monday’s $300,000 Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita, but she was stuck behind rivals with the finish line looming.

“I was thinking, ‘Can you open up a little bit,’ ” jockey Victor Espinoza said.

Sufficient racing room arrived when leader Fanticola moved slightly off the rail. Very quickly, Espinoza guided Hard Not to Like toward the gap and closer to Fanticola.

“In two jumps, I was right there,” Espinoza said. “It was an amazing feeling.”

Hard Not to Like took the lead in the final strides and won the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes by a neck over an unlucky Fanticola, an 8-1 shot who set the pace and looked like a winner late. Blingismything, a 25-1 outsider, finished third in the field of 10.

Hard Not to Like won the second Grade 1 race of her career in the Gamely, having won the Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland in April 2014. Owned by Speedway Stable, Hard Not to Like is trained by Christophe Clement. Hard Not to Like has won 7 of 19 starts and earned $961,671. The Gamely was Hard Not to Like’s fourth career stakes win.

Espinoza had the 6-year-old Hard Not to Like in sixth place for much of the race, well behind Fanticola’s moderate pace of 24.53 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 48.99 for the first half-mile. Turning for home, Fanticola led by more than a length over Blingismything, with Elektrum well placed in third.

While Elektrum could not find racing room in the final furlong and then failed to quicken when clear, Hard Not to Like got through. Hard Not to Like ($9.20) finished 1 1/8 miles on turf in 1:49.87.

Fanticola finished a half-length in front of Blingismything, the winner of the Grade 3 Wilshire Stakes at a mile on turf April 26. The runner-up finish was no consolation for jockey Joe Talamo. Fanticola was beaten a nose by Queen of The Sand in the Grade 3 Santa Barbara Handicap on April 18 with Talamo aboard for that race.

“It’s a tough beat,” Talamo said. “She fought the whole way.”

Talamo said Fanticola did not see Hard Not to Like until “right at the wire. There’s no cherry coating. This is a tough beat.”

Blingismything was followed by Elektrum, Danza Cavallo, Moulin de Mougin, Generosidade, Queen of The Sand, Three Hearts, and Smoove It. Danza Cavallo, trained by the New York-based Chad Brown, was the 3-2 favorite.