Samurai Charm makes Dark Mirage fifth consecutive triumph
CYPRESS, Calif. - Samurai Charm seemed to be a little bit of everywhere through the long stretch in Sunday’s $75,000 Dark Mirage Stakes for fillies and mares at Los Alamitos, including narrowly in front at the finish.
Ridden by Kyle Frey, for his third win on the program, Samurai Charm ($6.40) led throughout the one-mile race to prevail by a head as the second choice.
Samurai Charm led by as many as three lengths in early stretch, a margin that was reduced to two lengths with a furlong remaining when the 4-year-old filly began to run erratically.
Samurai Charm drifted in and out while Velvet Slippers closed with interest to get within a head at the wire.
“I knew I got it,” Frey sad. “I knew it was close. She got back into the bit in the nick of time.
“She shied from the outside. When I got after her, she ducked in and out.”
With approximately 300 yards remaining, Samurai Charm ducked to the outside, which may have been a reaction to a flock of birds on the infield near the rail.
“I thought it was a lot of things she was reacting to,” Frey said.
Samurai Charm was timed in 1:36.67, winning her stakes debut and fifth consecutive race. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 87.
Velvet Slippers (3-1) had her stakes debut in the Dark Mirage Stakes, having won a maiden special weight race at Del Mar on Sept. 2.
Paige Anne, third in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 1, finished third as the 7-5 favorite, two lengths behind Velvet Slippers.
Harper’s Gallop was fourth, followed by Candura. Big Sweep, a two-time stakes winner in stakes for California-bred 3-year-olds in 2020, was scratched.
Samurai Charm races for Kirk and Judy Robison’s Downstream Racing and trainer Peter Miller. The Robisons and Miller teamed to win the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby earlier this month with None Above the Law.
Samurai Charm was Miller’s third winner on Sunday’s Los Alamitos program.
By First Samurai, Samurai Charm has won 5 of 6 starts and has earned $149,760. The winning streak includes a $50,000 claiming race for maidens in 2019 and three races earlier this year – two starter allowance races and an allowance race since early July here and at Del Mar.