Rags to Riches wide all the way in Las Virgenes

ARCADIA, Calif. - No favorite has had to work harder for a stakes win at the current Santa Anita winter meeting than Rags to Riches in Saturdays $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes.

Making her stakes debut, Rags to Riches overcame a terribly wide trip to win the Grade 1 Las Virgenes by three-quarters of a length over Baroness Thatcher. The victory served notice that Rags to Riches will be a filly to watch in major stakes in coming months.

At times during the Grade 1 Las Virgenes, jockey Garrett Gomez thought Rags to Riches would fade through the field, but the filly surprised him with a sustained run through the stretch.

"I had to put her in a drive at the three-eighths pole," he said. "I thought, 'If she can still win from here . . . ' She had a lot to overcome."

Rags to Riches was five-wide throughout., and finished a mile in 1:37.85.

Rags to Riches ran a mile in 1:37.85. Runway Rosie, second in the stretch, finished third.

Rags to Riches was the only non-stakes-winner in the field of eight 3-year-old fillies.

Owned by Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, Rags to Riches is trained by Michael McCarthy. Purchased for $1.9 million as a yearling, Rags to Riches has won 2 of 3 starts and $180,110.