Tuttipaesi gets through to win Santa Ana

ARCADIA, Calif. - A tiny gap between horses was all Tuttipaesi needed in the stretch in Saturday’s $200,000 Santa Ana Stakes at Santa Anita. Guided into that space by jockey Chris DeCarlo, Tuttipaesi responded to storm to the front and win the Grade 2 Santa Ana Stakes for fillies and mares by a neck over Glory.

The win gave Tuttipaesi the most prestigious win of her career and gave the 47-year-old DeCarlo a win in his first mount at Santa Anita.

DeCarlo had Tuttipaesi last with three furlongs to go, showing patience aboard the 6-year-old mare before finding running room between runner-up Glory and third-place finisher Fresh Feline.

“It was tight but there was a little separation at the eighth pole,” DeCarlo said. “She put her head in there. She’s a fighter and those are the kind you want. That’s all she needed.”

Tuttipaesi ($7.40) ran 1 1/8 miles on turf in 1:48.82 for her third stakes win in her last four starts. She won the Suffolk Distaff Turf Stakes at Suffolk Downs in October and the South Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park in December. Trained by Bill Mott for the Valor Ladies partnership, Tuttipaesi has won 7 of 17 starts and earned $495,929.

Tuttipaesi was at the back of a field of five for the first six furlongs of the Santa Ana. Her Emmynency, the 4-5 favorite, set a modest pace of 24.50 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 48.51 seconds for a half-mile despite ducking in sharply from the inside post shortly after the start.

Her Emmynency jumped so far to the inside in the first 100 yards that jockey Joe Talamo had to correct her direction rapidly to avoid getting shut off coming from the main track onto the turf course.

“It surprised me a lot,” Talamo said. “She didn’t give me any indication that would happen.”

Talamo thought Her Emmynency had recovered from the incident until the field reached the turn and he began to urge his mount.

“The fractions were easy,” he said. “It would have been one thing if she would have run off. I had a lot of horse until the three-eighths pole.”

Glory, a 7-2 shot, led in the stretch and finished three-quarters of a length in front of Fresh Feline, who was followed by Nashoba’s Gold and Her Emmynency.

Nancy From Nairobi, the winner of consecutive optional claimers on turf in February and early March, was scratched on Saturday morning after a bout with colic, trainer John Sadler said. Nancy From Nairobi was the 5-2 second choice on the morning line. Sadler said Nancy From Nairobi was treated at his stable.

Tuttipaesi, an Irish-bred by Clodovil, has won five stakes. Tuttipaesi began her career in Italy where she won two stakes. She arrived in the United States in late 2012 and was second in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Keenland in April 2013 when trained by Graham Motion. She joined Mott’s stable in 2014.