Street Fancy works fast five furlongs in tune-up for San Virgenes

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Las Virgenes Stakes on Feb. 6 at Santa Anita will not be a walkover for the champion 2-year-old filly of 2015.

Grade 1 winner Street Fancy worked a fast five furlongs under Victor Espinoza on Sunday, as she prepares to take on undefeated Eclipse Award winner Songbird in the Las Virgenes. The one-mile race will mark the 2016 debut for both fillies.

Street Fancy, trained by Phil D’Amato, scored an upset victory Dec. 12 in the Grade 1 Starlet at Los Alamitos under jockey Mike Smith, the regular rider for Songbird. The Sunday workout by Street Fancy was the first time Espinoza had worked her.

Street Fancy broke off behind an unidentified D’Amato trainee, blew away that rival, took off after a pair of workers into the lane, and smoked five furlongs in 59.20 seconds. It was the second-fast five-furlong workout time Sunday.

“I wanted Victor to go between 59 and a minute, and he went right in between,” D’Amato said. “So it was a good drill. I got the last three-eighths in 35-and-one.”

Street Fancy, owned by Agave Racing, won her debut on Oct. 18 in a sprint at Santa Anita, finished third in a sprint stakes Nov. 15 at Del Mar, and then stretched to two turns to upset the Starlet on Dec. 12 at Los Alamitos.