Liguria comes from off the pace to win Buena Vista
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ARCADIA, Calif. – With a slight alteration from the original race plan, Liguria closed from well off the pace to win the third stakes of her career in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,500 Buena Vista Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.
Ridden by Flavien Prat, Liguria ($11.40) rallied on the rail to catch stretch leader Tirupati. Liguria, who won by a head, was last of six to the turn.
“I wanted to be closer, but it felt like the pace was strong from the get-go,” Prat said. “I settled where I was. I was able to save a lot of ground turning for home.”
Omaha Girl (39-1) led by as many as eight lengths through a sharp early pace of 22.50 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 45.37 for a half-mile. The led was reduced to a length with a quarter-mile remaining. Omaha Girl faded through the stretch.
Tirupati, a $50,000 claim at Woodbine in October who was supplemented to the field for $4,000, led by 1 1/2 lengths in the stretch but could not sustain the advantage. Tirupati (7-2) finished a neck in front of even-money favorite Rashmi, who was fourth on the backstretch and was beaten less than a half-length.
Uncorked finished fourth, followed by Big Hug and Omaha Girl. Alpha Bella was withdrawn on Saturday morning. She is nominated to the Grade 1 Beholder Mile for fillies and mares on dirt on March 8.
Liguria ran a mile on turf in 1:34.31 in the $200,500 Buena Vista Stakes. Liguria earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 94.
Trained by Michael McCarthy for Alpha Delta Stables, Liguria is a 5-year-old mare by War Front. Liguria won the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar in December 2022 and the Wild Applause Stakes at Belmont Park in June 2023 when trained by Chad Brown.
Liguria finished sixth in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland in October 2023 in her final start for Brown. Liguria was briefly in training in the spring of 2024 in California before she sidelined. She resumed workouts last December and finished third behind Rashmi in the Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 1 in her first start for McCarthy and first start in more than 15 months.
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