Vanta surges to Surfer Girl win; Repo Man takes Zuma Beach Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. - Vanta and Repo Man are bound for Breeders’ Cup turf races for 2-year-olds at Keeneland on Oct. 30 after maintaining their undefeated records with wins in Grade 3 one-mile turf stakes at Santa Anita on Sunday.

Vanta, who paid a mere $2.40, the shortest-priced winner in the first two weekends of the track’s autumn meeting, closed from sixth in a field of seven to win the $101,000 Surfer Girl Stakes for 2-year-old fillies by three-quarters of a length. She has won three times.

Repo Man remained undefeated after two starts with a win in the $98,000 Zuma Beach Stakes, but only after he survived a four-minute inquiry and objection into a bumping incident in the stretch run with stablemate Maxify.

Umberto Rispoli was aboard both winners.

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Vanta closed with a strong rush to catch pacesetter Blockade in the Surfer Girl Stakes, finishing in 1:35.17. Vanta was fifth with a quarter-mile remaining, trailing 8-1 Blockade by slightly more than 4 1/2 lengths. The deficit was two lengths with a furlong to go.

Vanta won without significant urging in the final strides.

“I just tried to do the minimum possible with her,” Rispoli said. “Winning without overusing her, that was the key.

“She didn’t surprise me. I know how good she is.”

Blockade finished three lengths clear of 20-1 Big Blast. Less Please finished fourth, followed by River In Paradise, Dash and Dee Snook.

Blockade was second by 2 1/2 lengths behind Vanta in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf on Sept. 6.

On Sunday, Blockade set a moderate pace of 23.19 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 48.07 for a half-mile, leading by as much as three lengths under jockey Adrian Escobedo.

“She broke really sharp. She was comfortable,” Escobedo said. Vanta “is a better horse.”

Vanta, who races for Dutch Girl Holdings and Irving Ventures, has earned $168,000. By Greatest Honour, Vanta was purchased for $370,000 at the Ocala Breeders Sale of 2-year-olds in training in March.

Trained by Jeff Mullins, Vanta overcame traffic issues to win a maiden race at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on July 31. She won the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf despite a slow start.

Mullins described Vanta’s win as a race with “not as much trouble this time.

“I didn’t give any instructions,” he said.

Vanta’s next objective is the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Repo Man survives inquiry

Repo Man, who was sent off favored and paid $3.60, and 2-1 Maxify were clear of rivals in the final furlong when they exchanged bumps. Repo Man won by a head.

Both Repo Man and Maxify are trained by Michael McCarthy.

Juan Hernandez, who was aboard Maxify, lodged an objection against Repo Man, alleging interference.

“He bumped me in the last sixteenth,” Hernandez said. “My horse was trying to come back.”

The stewards did not change the order of finish.

Rispoli said the contact between Repo Man and Maxify kept him from coaxing a top effort from his mount.

“At the top of the stretch, my horse is lugging in,” he said. “I tried to stay away from everyone and (Maxify) was the first one that came and found me. He contacted me first. So after that, his horse is tired and getting beat.

“There was never one chance he would have come back on me. I never rode my horse in the stretch.”

Repo Man closed from last in a field of four. Maxify was followed in the order of finish by Duty Bound and A P Oxbow. Off in the Corner was scratched when the field was near the starting gate on advice of a track veterinarian, according to the stewards.

Repo Man ran a mile on turf in 1:36.05.

McCarthy rates Repo Man and Maxify as candidates for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 30.

Repo Man, by Golden Pal, races for John and Jerry Amerman. Purchased for $235,000 at the Fasig-Tipton mid-Atlantic sale of 2-year-olds in-training in May, Repo Man won his debut in a maiden race at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Aug. 27.

Repo Man has earned $108,000 in two starts.

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