Queen of the Sand finishes fast to take Santa Barbara

ARCADIA, Calif. - Queen of the Sand was racing toward the rear of the field in Saturday’s $151,000 Santa Barbara Handicap at Santa Anita when jockey Drayden Van Dyke began plotting a strategy for the final half-mile.

Van Dyke’s options were simple – save ground or rally wide.

“She was very comfortable and was within herself,” he said.

Van Dyke opted for the wider journey. He overcame traffic aboard Queen of the Sand in early stretch, and found sufficient room to guide the 5-year-old mare to victory in the race at 1 1/4 miles on turf. Queen of the Sand trailed pacesetter Fanticola by two lengths with a furlong remaining, but closed brilliantly to win the Grade 3 race by a nose.

“At the wire, I knew I had it,” Van Dyke said. “I had a lucky break, was able to hustle my way out of there, got through and had a run.”

Queen of the Sand ($15.80) was timed in 2:01.04.

Queen of the Sand recorded a career-defining win in the Santa Barbara, a race marred by an injury to 5-2 favorite Diversy Harbor, who was pulled up on the turn with a sesamoid injury to her left foreleg. The filly was taken to Tom Proctor’s barn for further evaluation and X-rays. Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farms, which owns Diversy Harbor, said in a Twitter message that he had been in contact with Proctor and that Diversy Harbor had run for the last time.

Fanticola, who won the Megahertz Stakes at a mile on turf in January, finished 1 1/4 lengths in front of Three Hearts. Walk Close was fourth, followed by Habibi, Industrial Policy, Tangelo, and Arethusa.

Queen of the Sand won her first graded stakes in the Santa Barbara. Owned by Derrick Fisher and trained by Paddy Gallagher, Queen of the Sand began her career in Ireland, where she won four minor races, three of which were on the all-weather surface at Dundalk.

Queen of the Sand joined Gallagher’s stable in early 2014. The highlight of her 2014 campaign in California was a win in the minor Kathryn Crosby Stakes at Del Mar last November, followed by a second in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes there.

In her lone start this year, Queen of the Sand was eighth of nine in the Grade 2 Santa Ana Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf on March 15.

“She had been training well and her last race helped her, I think,” Gallagher said.