One of the leaders of her generation when based in Florida over the winter, Birdatthewire (Summer Bird) had made two somewhat lackluster appearances since finishing an even fifth from a high draw in the GI Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs May 2. Let go at odds of 10-1 with Hall of Famer jockey Mike Smith taking over at the controls, the lanky bay filly was slow into stride and detached from the body of the field in Saturday's GI La Brea S. at Santa Anita, but caught the eye on the turn, then caught pacesetting Hot City Girl (City Zip) to score by a cozy three-parts of a length. 'TDN Rising Star' Cavorting (Bernardini) sat a perfect trip behind the speed, but couldn't match strides late and finished third.
A maiden winner in four tries as a juvenile, Birdatthewire upset the seven-furlong GII Forward Gal S. to the tune of 12-1 Jan. 24, then turned in a strong anti-bias effort when a deep-closing neck second to Ekati's Phaeton (Tale of Ekati) in the GII Davona Dale S. going Gulfstream's one-turn mile Feb. 21. The filly got an ideal set-up when running out a 1 1/4-length victrix of the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks Mar. 28, but she failed to reproduce that effort from the 13 hole on Kentucky Oaks day, picking off a few rivals late en route to a fifth-place effort. Given six months to mature, Birdatthewire resumed as the 7-5 favorite in the one-mile GII Chilukki S. at Churchill Downs Nov. 7, but was off slowly and beat just two rivals home in fifth. Returned to two turns for the GII Falls City H. Nov. 26, she took a bump at the break and rallied past a few to round out the superfecta as the 2-1 choice.
Drawn in gate one here, Birdatthewire was again tardy at the off and raced in a detached last early on as Hot City Girl set an honest pace in advance of GIII L. A. Woman S. upsetter Ben's Duchess (Munnings) as Cavorting took advantage of her low draw and raced a couple of lengths off the tail of Hot City Girl. The front-running continued to bowl along, mostly unchallenged and things looked very positive for her as the half went up in a moderate :45.35. The blaze-faced chestnut turned them, pinched a break and looked on her way to victory, but Birdatthewire, the only of the fillies to be making any sort of late impact, found her best stride nearing the lane, was steered out to the center of the Santa Anita main track and was along in the waning strides while covering 33 feet (about 3 3/4 lengths) more than the runner-up. Cavorting stayed on at one pace for third. It was the second California win from four non-Breeders' Cup runners for trainer Dale Romans in the last five years (Dullahan, 2012 GI Pacific Classic).
“Before the race I thought that we might have a tough time getting there in time, since she's such a late runner and it's seven furlongs; but during the running of the race, we were already in contention at the half-mile pole!” Smith recollected. “Dale told me that she likes to run out when she's making a run 'so just let her.' So, as long as she kept catching them, I just kept letting her run to the outside. We were way past the middle of the racetrack but she just kept running.”
The winner's dam produced a colt by Discreet Cat earlier this winter and was bred back to Giant's Causeway.
Saturday, Santa Anita
LA BREA S.-GI, $301,000, SA, 12-26, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:23.31, ft.
1–&BIRDATTHEWIRE, 120, f, 3, by Summer Bird
1st Dam: My Limit (SP, $135,360), by Wagon Limit
2nd Dam: Piney Woods, by Valid Appeal
3rd Dam: Chatham Light, by Majestic Light
($22,000 RNA Ylg '13 KEEJAN; $37,000 RNA Ylg '13 FTKJUL;
$23,000 Ylg '13 FTKOCT). O-Forum Racing IV; B-Lynn & Kathy
Jones (KY); T-Dale L. Romans; J-Mike E. Smith. $180,000.
Lifetime Record: 11-4-2-1, $569,090. Werk Nick Rating: B.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
[bullet ad=”alliance-bloodstock-shell”][bullet ad=”kbif-g1″][bullet ad=”selectsales-shell”]
2–Hot City Girl, 118, f, 3, City Zip–Noble Fire, by Hook and
Ladder. O-Lady Sheila Stable; B-Eklektikos Stable LLC (NY);
T-Linda Rice. $60,000.
[bullet ad=”hoppel-parick-grad”][bullet ad=”nytb-ny-bred-why-breed-anywhere-else”]
3–Cavorting, 123, f, 3, Bernardini–Promenade Girl, by Carson
City. ($360,000 Wlg '12 KEENOV).
'TDN Rising Star' O-Stonestreet Stables LLC; B-Swettenham
Stud (KY); T-Kiaran P. McLaughlin. $36,000.
[bullet ad=”eaton-sold”]
Margins: HF, 1 1/4, 2 1/4. Odds: 10.90, 3.50, 1.40.
Also Ran: Ben's Duchess, Rattataptap, Finest City, Maybellene, Moyo Honey, Pleasant Tales. Scratched: Lily Pod. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
