Mucho Unusual out to continue strong meet in Santa Ana Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – A quietly successful winter campaign by Mucho Unusual moves into spring and stretches to 1 1/4 miles on Saturday at Santa Anita, where Mucho Unusual should be strongly favored in the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes.

The turf mare has already compiled impressive numbers at the winter-spring meet. Mucho Unusual will be the first horse to start in four graded stakes, and she would be the first three-time stakes winner this meet. Her trainer Tim Yakteen has sights set on another goal.

“I’d like to get her earnings over a million,” Yakteen said. “She’s close. We have to win a couple more, or one big one.”

Mucho Unusual has won seven races and $862,715 from 20 starts for owner-breeder George Krikorian, and recently was named 2020 California-bred of the year. Saturday at Santa Anita, she stretches out following a highly rated runner-up finish at one mile.

“She’s won four times at a mile, but I don’t think a mile is necessarily her best distance,” Yakteen said, referring to her second last month in the Grade 2 Buena Vista.

“Originally, we were going to skip her last race, but she was doing really well,” Yakteen said. “Instead of me training her up to a mile and a quarter, we thought it would be easier to run her. I thought she ran a game race.”

It was one of the best of her career. Mucho Unusual earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure finishing second to front-runner Charmaine’s Mia. Mucho Unusual faces easier Saturday, at a 10-furlong distance she has tried twice – a win in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive last autumn and runner-up finish in the Grade 1 American Oaks in late 2019.

Flavien Prat rides Mucho Unusual, who faces a similar challenge in the Santa Ana as she faced last out in the Buena Vista – chasing a fast horse who will try to win it up front.

Tapwater is likely to inherit the lead in her first stakes start, and first beyond one mile. Richard Mandella trains Tapwater, who won a second-level allowance last out with a forwardly placed trip behind quicker fractions than are likely in the Santa Ana.

Mike Smith rides Tapwater, a 5-year-old Tapit mare with three wins from seven starts. If she clears the field and gets comfortable, she could wire the field.

The Santa Ana field includes three graded winners – Mucho Unusual; Red Lark, the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks winner last summer; and Neige Blanche, a Group 3 winner in France. The best U.S. finish by Neige Blanche was a third last fall in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks.

The Santa Ana is the ninth and final race on the Saturday card. Other entrants include Silberpfeil, Going to Vegas, Altea, and Colonial Creed.

A win by Mucho Unusual would flatter the mare she recently lost to. Charmaine’s Mia is expected to start favored April 3 in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine at one mile on turf. The long-range target for Mucho Unusual is the Grade 1 Gamely at 1 1/8 miles on May 31.