Malia Sofia upsets Sun Devil Stakes

PHOENIX - Emerald invader Malia Sofia really took to her new surroundings and posted a 22-1 upset in Saturday's $50,000 Sun Devil Stakes at Turf Paradise.

Owned by Dan Agnew and trained by Carol Hubbard, Malia Sofia sat midpack in the six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies, stayed wide and finished gamely to get up by a nose to beat 9-5 favorite Briecat.

Briecat had stalked the pace and taken the lead in midstretch but just got nipped. It was two lengths back to Pure and Simple in the field of 11. R Charlie's Angel, well regarded from Southern California while coming off a long layoff, was well back early and ran on to be fifth as the 5-2 second choice.

Malia Sofia covered the six furlongs in 1:09.74 on fast going under Anne Von Rosen. She paid $47.80 and the winner's share of $30,000 pushed her career bankroll to $60,743 from three wins in seven starts.