Ippodamia's Girl ends stakes-win drought with Osunitas

DEL MAR, Calif. - Two years after she finished last in the Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar, Ippodamia’s Girl won the same race on Saturday, her first stakes win since New Year’s Eve 2017.

Ridden by Joe Bravo, who relocated to Southern California last month, Ippodamia’s Girl ($14.80) closed from seventh in a field of nine to win by a half-length over Brooke, the 5-2 second choice. Tapwater, the 5-2 favorite, closed from last between horses to finish third, beaten three-quarters of a length.

Ippodamia’s Girl ran a mile on turf in 1:35.30 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 86.

Bravo gave Ippodamia’s Girl a patient ride, which winning trainer Richard Baltas said was vital for a 6-year-old mare who had disappointing results in one-mile graded stakes on turf at Santa Anita in recent starts.

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Ippodamia’s Girl was last of eight in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes on April 3 and fourth in the Grade 3 Wilshire Stakes on June 20 after failing to settle under Bravo on the backstretch.

Ippodamia’s Girl had a trip in the Osunitas that Baltas described as “a lot better than last time.”

“We had a couple of bad trips,” Baltas said. “Last time, she ran off early.

“It was back to the drawing board. I’m seeing what I hoped I’d see.”

The $87,940 Osunitas Stakes was restricted to fillies and mares that had not won a stakes worth $50,000 at a mile or over in a stakes, other than statebred races, since Sept. 1.

Sedamar, fourth in the 2020 Osunitas, finished in the same position Saturday. The remaining order of finish was She’s So Special, Heather’s Grey, Dynasty of Her Own, Nasty, and Candura.

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Ippodamia’s Girl, a 6-year-old mare by Stormy Atlantic, has won 5 of 17 starts and earned $261,072. Owned by breeders George and Martha Schwary, Ippodamia’s Girl won the Blue Norther Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Santa Anita in December 2017 when trained by Mike Puype. She was later trained by William E. Morey and Andrew Lerner before joining Baltas’s stable earlier this year.

Ippodamia’s Girl did not race in 2020 and won her first start for Baltas in an allowance race at a mile on turf on March 12 that was followed by the two losses in graded stakes at Santa Anita.

“They gave her to me fresh and rested,” Baltas said.