NEWS
Champion Stardom Bound wins Las Virgenes
Posted: Saturday, February 07, 2009 6:21 PM
STARDOM BOUND
Benoit & Associates photo
by Mike Curry
Champion Stardom Bound showed her class by overcoming traffic trouble in her season debut to complete a last-to-first rally in the $300,000 Las Virgenes Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Santa Anita Park.
The three-year-old Tapit filly was boxed in on the backstretch and trapped behind a wall of horses approaching the stretch, but once jockey Mike Smith angled her to clear running room Stardom Bound responded. She uncoiled an impressive burst of speed to inhale five opponents in the final quarter mile and shook clear to a 1 1/4-length score as the overwhelming 2-to-5 favorite.
"I was trying to slow her down going down the backside and get her to relax. She hadn't run in six months, so she was wanting to go,” Smith said. “I wasn't concerned around the turn when I was boxed in. I was actually glad to be bottled up really, because I didn't want to ask her to run too early. I figured if I stayed stuck, something would probably open up by the eighth pole. She accelerates so good, it's amazing. She's a dream to ride."
Stardom Bound was purchased by IEAH Stables for $5.7-million at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky selected fall mixed sale. Making her first start for new connections, Stardom Bound completed one mile in 1:36.43 on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface to land her fourth Grade 1 win.
Multiple stakes winner Saucey Evening battled with Stardom Bound in early stretch, but could not keep pace with the winner and finished third. Haka rallied from seventh to nip Saucey Evening by a neck for second.
Stardom Bound closed her two-year-old campaign with three consecutive Grade 1 wins and was voted champion two-year-old filly. She posted a 4 1/2-length win in the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) on September 1 and followed with a 3 1/2-length score in the Oak Leaf Stakes (G1) on September 27.
Stardom Bound closed her juvenile campaign with a 1 1/2-length win in the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) on October 24 at the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Park in her final start for trainer Chris Paasch and previous owner Charles Cono.
Michael Iavarone of IEAH Stables said Stardom Bound probably will be pointed to the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (G1) against males on April 4. Out of multiple graded stakes-placed stakes winner My White Corvette, by Tarr Road, Stardom Bound improved to four wins and two seconds in six starts and boosted her earnings to $1,600,600.
"I don't see why she wouldn't go on. I don't know what else she has to prove against the girls,” Iavarone said. “I'll talk it over with [trainer] Bobby [Frankel], but I think that's what we want. I think that's what racing wants.”
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
