Musical Rhapsody comes into Santa Barbara off confidence-boosting victory

ARCADIA, Calif. – On her terms, the 5-year-old mare Musical Rhapsody can be a dangerous closer, a style trainer Phil D’Amato and jockey Mike Smith hope to utilize in Saturday’s $100,000 Santa Barbara Stakes at Santa Anita.

Run at 1 1/2 miles on turf for fillies and mares, the Santa Barbara is a stamina test at a distance Musical Rhapsody seems to prefer. She closed from fourth of seven to finish second to the well-regarded Linda’s Gift in the Astra Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf in February, and won an allowance race at 1 1/4 miles on turf April 4 in her latest start.

“I think she got a nice confidence booster with a win in the allowance race,” D’Amato said.

Musical Rhapsody, who races for Michael House, won for the first time in her sixth start in the United States on April 4. She finished fifth of eight in the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf in February, a loss that D’Amato attributes to race tactics.

“I think she was really close to a fast pace,” he said. “Mike had moved on her a little early. In hindsight, he wished he’d made one run.”

Musical Rhapsody drew the outside post in a field of seven in the Santa Barbara, the last of nine races on a program that begins at 1 p.m. Pacific.

The Santa Barbara drew two stakes winners – Duvet Day, who won the Astra Stakes in January 2023; and the D’Amato-trained Comanche Country, who won two one-mile turf stakes for 2-year-old fillies in 2022. Comanche Country was supplemented to the Santa Barbara for $2,000 when entries were taken on Wednesday.

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Duvet Day was third in the Astra Stakes this January, but only seventh of eight in the Santa Ana Stakes, a distance trainer Michael McCarthy said did not fit the 5-year-old mare.

“I think she truly needs to be at a mile and a half with these horses,” he said.

Duvet Day, who runs from off the pace, was a fast-closing second as the 6-5 favorite in the 2023 Santa Barbara. She is winless in her last five starts.

“We’d like to get a ‘W’ here,” McCarthy said.

The Santa Barbara is the stakes debut of Illhaveanotherkiss, who will play a key role as an expected pacesetter. She led throughout a starter allowance at a mile on turf April 26, and will have her debut at 1 1/2 miles on turf Saturday.

This is a new distance for Vincero Grande, who was second to Musical Rhapsody on April 4 when entered to be claimed for $50,000. Vincero Grande was second in the Campanile Stakes for statebred 3-year-old fillies at a mile on turf at Golden Gate Fields in 2022.

“My horse was still running on after the wire,” trainer Mike Puype said of the April 4 race. “The distance is the only reason I’m taking a shot.

“I don’t think it’s a far-fetched gamble.”

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