Rain Not A Problem In San Juan Invitational
It never rains in California. Well, almost never.
The heavy rains that turned the turf course into mush here at California Race Course certainly didn’t dampen the spirits of the crowd, nor did they hamper Out Of Spite, as the champion mare retained her dominance over the boys with a relatively easy win in the Grade 2 $250,000 San Juan Invitational on Saturday.
The five year old daughter of Dynaformer was in fine form on Saturday, as she cruised from near the back of the pack to score a two-length victory over Solar Panels in the mile and three-quarters San Juan over a yielding turf course.
It was Out Of Spite’s twelfth win in 24 career starts, and the winner’s share of the $250,000 purse upped her career earnings to just over $3.3 million.
Bluegrass Country, the longest shot in the race at 9-1, bolted out of the gates early here in the San Juan and led the way for all three first calls, opening up as much as a five length lead on the far turn.
But it was not a day for long shots, or males, as Out Of Spite kicked it into gear late and made a powerful move to rally for the win over a late-surging Solar Panels, son of Hall of Famer Solar Song.
Wolfman Has Nards, who was sent off as the 5-1 co-third favorite with Solar Panels, came from dead last with a late rush to finish third, two lengths behind Solar Panels. Blue Grass Country finished fourth, two lengths back of Wolfman Has Nards.
CCCP, Night In Hollywood and second favorite Kor Mon rounded out the field.
It was a pretty dominating performance by Out Of Spite, who hadn’t scored a win over the boys in a graded stakes race since Christmas Day last season, when she pulled off an upset in the Grade 1 $3.5 million Winter Cup in Japan. The Dynaformer progeny, who turned in the highest speed figure of her career (113) back on Christmas Day in that race, only managed a 99 speed figure on the California yielding turf course Saturday, but it was good enough to win the San Juan.
It was the fourth graded stakes win in Out Of Spite’s career and her second on a yielding turf course. Her other graded stakes win on yielding turf came in October of last year, when Out Of Spite won the Grade 2 Prix Royal against a field of other females in Paris.
Trained by thethumb3, Out of Spite went off at odds of 1.90-1 and paid $5.90, $3.70 and $2.20 across the board. The 5-4 exacta of Out Of Spite and Solar Panels paid $31.30, while the 5-4-7 trifecta paid $147.70.