Santa Monica by a head in Orchid Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Santa Monica needed all her class and every inch of the Gulfstream Park turf course to win Friday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Orchid Stakes by a head over Ickymasho.

Forced to go four wide around the turn and five wide in the stretch, Santa Monica kicked hard under Irad Ortiz Jr. and reeled in Ickymasho in the final jump to make a winning debut for her new owners R Unicorn Stable. Santa Monica, a 6-year-old daughter of Mastercraftsman, was previously owned by Susan Magnier, Madaket Stables, and Deron Pearson.

The win was the third on the day for Irad Ortiz Jr., who finished the card with 130 wins, two more than Luis Saez, who was aboard Ickymasho. There are two days left in the meet.

It was also the 23rd stakes victory of the meet for Ortiz.

“We are in a fight back and forth – he win, I win – I’m just happy to have a great meet right now,” Ortiz said. “If I can win, that’s going to be great. If not, I gave it a good fight.”

Santa Monica, trained by Chad Brown, was the class of the Orchid field, but she hadn’t won since taking the Grade 2 Dance Smartly at Woodbine last June 30. She was coming off a one-length loss in the La Prevoyante here on Jan. 26.

Frida, Santa Monica was in seventh position early, racing in the two path, while Giant Zinger set fractions of 25.13 seconds for the quarter, 50.93 for the half, and 1:16.87 for six furlongs.

Ickymasho, who was stalking from second, took over turning for home and was beginning to edge away under Saez.

Ortiz launched a wide bid around the far turn under Santa Monica and was floated five wide in the lane. Santa Monica kept charging at Ickymasho and got up in the final stride.

“By the three-eighths pole, nobody moved inside, I had nowhere to go. The only chance I had was tip her out and go from there,” Ortiz said. “It’s a little early and wide, but I got the best horse in the race. We were going slow early, somebody was going to keep going at the end, so I had to go early.”

Santa Monica covered the 1 3/8 miles in 2:16.07 and returned $3 as the favorite.

Ickymasho finished second by three-quarters of a length over Giant Zinger. Maroubra was fourth, followed by A. A. Azula’s Arch, Cha Cha Heels, Homeland Security, Shezaprado, and Kallio.