Kopion runs away with Santa Ynez Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. - Nearly a year ago, the 2-year-old filly Kopion caught trainer Richard Mandella’s attention when he watched her gallop at a training center in Ocala, Fla.

“I liked looking at her,” Mandella recalled on Sunday.

Kopion has been easy to admire in her first two starts on the tracks, too. After a smart victory in a maiden race in her debut at Del Mar in November, Kopion won her stakes debut with little effort in Sunday’s Grade 3 Santa Ynez Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.

The race had only four starters. Kopion ($2.40) was 1-5 and started from the inside. Tambo, Kopion’s main rival, stumbled at the start, essentially losing all chance before the race was underway.

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Ridden by Flavien Prat, Kopion set an easy pace of 23.70 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 46.55 for a half-mile, leading by 1 1/2 lengths into the stretch. Kopion extended her lead to three lengths with a furlong remaining and by 5 3/4 lengths at the finish.

“I squeezed her a bit turning into the stretch and she responded,” Prat said.

Kopion ran seven furlongs in 1:23.89 and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 86.

There was one moment of concern early in the race when Kopion shifted to the inside as the field left the backstretch chute and joined the main oval, but the incident did not cost Kopion any momentum.

“She looked around a little bit,” Prat said.

“She was by herself. She was very relaxed. She never had a challenge.”

Don’t Bring Crazy, fourth in the Desi Arnaz Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar in November, finished second at 16-1, followed by 5-2 Tambo and 24-1 Bossy Bruin Gal.

Petit Filet, who was second in the Golden State Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita in November, was withdrawn on Sunday morning. Trainer Alfred Vuocolo said over the weekend that Petit Filet was likely to be scratched from the $98,000 Santa Ynez Stakes in favor of the $200,000 California Cup Oaks for statebred fillies at a mile on turf at Santa Anita next Saturday.

Kopion, owned by Spendthrift Farm, was purchased for $270,000 as a yearling, and has earned $96,600. Kopion is expected to start around two turns later this winter, with Grade 3 stakes such as the Las Virgenes Stakes at a mile on Feb. 4, or the Santa Ysabel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 3 likely to be considered.

Both are worth $100,000.

Kopion gives Spendthrift and Mandella two highly promising 3-year-old fillies for 2024. They are the team behind Tamara, the winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante in September who has not raced since she finished seventh as the 4-5 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita in November.

Tamara, who was also part of the cast of juveniles Mandella inspected last winter, is currently being rested at a local farm after she was diagnosed with a splint bone injury after the Breeders' Cup. She is expected to return to Mandella’s stable later this month.

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