Soothsay steps up with Santa Anita Oaks score

ARCADIA, Calif. – Who knows what the future holds with Soothsay, but she’s already come a long way in a short amount of time.

Off a mere maiden sprint win five weeks earlier in her debut, Soothsay was aggressively placed in the Grade 2, $392,000 Santa Anita Oaks on Saturday and responded by scoring a mild upset over favored Beautiful Gift.

The victory makes her the West’s top 3-year-old filly, but her trainer, Richard Mandella, stopped short of committing her to the Kentucky Oaks 27 days hence, and for which she earned 100 points on Saturday.

“It’s nice to dream, but we’ve asked her to do a lot,” Mandella said. “We’ll see.”

Whether or not she goes, the future looks bright. Soothsay was giving away experience to all her rivals and was sent along aggressively into the far turn by jockey Flavien Prat owing to a slow pace, but she made an extended run and prevailed.

“I thought twice about it since she had only run once. It’s a little risky,” Prat said. “But she was traveling along easy, too easy. I thought I better go now.”

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Soothsay ($10.40) had sat third along the inside for the first half of the 1 1/16-mile race, as Moraz led early, with Beautiful Gift right on her hip. After an opening quarter in 24.34 seconds and half in 49.04, Prat sent Soothsay inside of Moraz to seize the lead at the six-furlong mark, run in 1:13.18.

As the field neared the top of the lane, Soothsay, Moraz, and Beautiful Gift were locked in a spirited battle. Moraz, between horses, was the first to yield, leaving Soothsay and Beautiful Gift to battle it out. Soothsay never was headed through the lane and crossed the wire a half-length best in 1:44.35 on the fast main track.

Soothsay was given an 87 Beyer Speed Figure.

Moraz finished third, 5 1/4 lengths behind Beautiful Gift, with Javanica trailing. Brilliant Cut was scratched Saturday morning from the original field of five.

Mandella was the first local trainer to start using Prat when Prat first wintered here a decade ago, before he relocated from France. He’s long been one of Prat’s biggest boosters, if not his biggest.

“He’s one of the best we’ve ever seen,” Mandella said.

Mandella came into the meet with a strong contingent of 3-year-old fillies of 2021, led by Astute and Moonlight d’Oro. Astute has been nagged by minor injuries, and Moonlight d’Oro went to the sidelines after beating Moraz in the Las Virgenes in early February. Soothsay, by contrast, didn’t make her debut until Feb. 26, winning a six-furlong race by 1 1/2 lengths under Prat. Yet this late-developing filly still captured the meet’s main prize in the division for Mandella.

Soothsay is a daughter of Distorted Humor who is a homebred for Claiborne Farm, Perry and Ramona Bass, and Adele Dilschneider.