La Tia may run in Marshua's River at Gulfstream

STICKNEY, Ill. – La Tia this past Saturday became the second Illinois-bred to ship out of Hawthorne during the month of November and win a Grade 1 race in Southern California, joining Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Work All Week on that unlikely pipeline when she captured the Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar.

While Work All Week has gone on to Florida for a bit of rest and relaxation, La Tia has shipped to trainer Armando de la Cerda’s barn at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, seemingly in good shape, de la Cerda said, after the first Grade 1 win of her career.

Plans for what La Tia will do in 2015 have not yet been finalized by owner-breeder Salvador Hernandez, de la Cerda said, but there is no turf stakes for fillies and mares worthy of her ability in New Orleans, and La Tia will be considered for the Grade 3, $150,000 Marshua’s River on Jan. 10 at Gulfstream.

“It’s possible she’ll be retired and bred sometime this winter,” said de la Cerda.

A 5-year-old mare by City Place, La Tia is less than $17,000 from $1 million in career earnings. La Tia had won four Grade 3 stakes before she wired a solid group in the Matriarch, her fourth win from eight starts during a busy and highly productive 2014 campaign that included races at Arlington, Woodbine, and Belmont before the ship to California.

“She’s a nice filly and I just try to keep her happy,” said de la Cerda.

La Tia can be a handful before her races, but patient handling and maturity might have settled her.

“She surprised before this race,” de la Cerda said. “Before, she could be really crazy, but this time she was quiet”