Island Fashion dominates in La Brea

ARCADIA, Calif. - Island Fashion, the winner of the Alabama Stakes at Saratoga in August, won her fourth stakes of 2003 in Saturday's $250,000 at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Kent Desormeaux, Island Fashion ($20.80) ran seven furlongs in 1:21.79, finishing six lengths in front of Randaroo. Buffythecenterfold finished third in the field of 10 3-year-old fillies.

Elloluv, the runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, finished sixth, a setback to her hopes of winning the Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding 3-year-old filly of 2003.

Island Fashion was always near the front despite starting from the outside.

Owned by Jeff Nielsen's Everest Stable, Island Fashion is trained by Marcelo Polanco. She joined his stable in the fall after making four starts for Barclay Tagg, a span that included wins in the Delaware Oaks and Grade 1 Alabama Stakes.

Last spring, Island Fashion won the WinStar Oaks at Sunland Park for trainer Nick Canani.

Santa Ynez next target for Silent Sighs

Not all of the top California-bred are bound for the Sunshine Millions at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita on Jan. 24.

After Silent Sighs won her first stakes in Saturday's $125,000 fillies division of the California Breeders' Champion Stakes at Santa Anita, owner Marty Wygod said Silent Sighs would bypass the $250,000 Sunshine Million Oaks at Gulfstream Park in favor of the $150,000 Santa Ynez Stakes, a Grade 2 at seven furlongs on Jan. 19.

"From there we'll stretch her out," Wygod said. "I don't think we'll run into anything that's tough in the seven-eighths."

Silent Sighs had little competition in the five-runner California Breeders' Champion Stakes. Sent off at 3-5, she led throughout, dueling on the backstretch with Nicole and Ben before scoring by three lengths. Ridden by David Flores, Silent Sighs finished seven furlongs in a quick 1:22.12.

"I wanted to stay off the pace and she was taking me to the lead very easy," Flores said. "I didn't want to choke her so I just kind of let her cruise around there.

"At the top of the stretch, I wanted to teach her how to change leads. But she still doesn't know how to do it, so I just left her like that and just rode her out."

Silent Sighs did switched leads after the finish when she jumped a shadow.

"She's still green," Wygod said.

Yearly Report rallied from fourth to finish second, 12 lengths in front of Nicole and Ben.

Silent Sighs has won 2 of 3 starts and $125,200. Her win gave the stallion Benchmark a sweep of the weekend's two divisions of the California Breeders' Champion Stakes. Friday, Don'tsellmeshort won the open division.