Vanity also-rans return to win stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 Vanity Mile at Santa Anita on June 4 is turning out to be a productive race.

The champions Beholder and Stellar Wind were first and second in the five-runner field. The two not in the top three won stakes at Santa Anita over the holiday weekend.

Lost Bus, who finished fourth in the Vanity, won Monday’s $98,000 Spring Fever Handicap for California-bred fillies and mares at six furlongs. Divina Comedia, who finished last in the Vanity, won the $79,190 Southern Truce Stakes at a mile last Sunday.

Some of those fillies and mares could meet again during the Del Mar summer meeting. Beholder, Stellar Wind, and Divina Comedia are candidates for the $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on July 30. Lost Bus and Finest City, who finished third in the Vanity, could run in the $100,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 17.

Lost Bus won her second stakes in the Spring Fever. She won the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes in a 64-1 upset in January. Owned by Terry Lovingier, Lost Bus was claimed for $32,000 at Del Mar last November. She has since won 3 of 7 starts and earned $298,748.

Divina Comedia, owned by Marsha Naify, won her first stakes in the Southern Truce. Even though Divina Comedia was beaten 7 3/4 lengths by Beholder in the Vanity, trainer Simon Callaghan said he would like to try the three-time champion again in the Grade 1 Hirsch.

“That was a big result for her to get that stakes win,” he said of Divina Comedia. “It would be nice to get a Grade 1 placing.”