Santa Anita: Kopion leads whole way vs. 3 to win Santa Ynez

Heavilyfavored after a big debut win, Kopion overcame a touch of greenness early toregister an impressive 5 3/4-length score against only three rivals in Sunday’sGrade 3, $100,000 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita.

The race was a points prep for the Kentucky Oaks (G1). With so fewhorses, the points normally given to the top five finishers were allocated on a10-5-3-2 basis. There was also no show betting.

Trained byRichard Mandella and ridden by Flavien Prat, the 3-year-old daughter of OmahaBeach got seven furlongs in 1:23.89, leading the whole way and setting earlyfractions of 23.70, 46.55 and 1:10.87.

#1 KOPION ($2.40) impressively wins the G3 ?? Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita under Flavien Prat for trainer Richard Mandella. Congratulations to @SpendthriftFarm on ?? Kentucky Oaks points for this daughter of Omaha Beach. pic.twitter.com/dKKH1JrOJH

— TVG (@TVG) January 7, 2024

Mandella alsotrained Omaha Beach.

“I love him,”the Hall of Fame trainer said. “He was such a class horse, a good horse, andthis filly has just been a star ever since she came back. The only time shedidn’t work good was with Tamara (another 3-year-old filly). I can’t explain it,but she just didn’t want any part of it.”

Kopion broke sharplyfrom the rail. Her primary opposition Tambo stumbled badly leaving from post 2.Kopion made an easy lead but shied a bit as the field came out of the chute tojoin the main track oval.

With Prat infirm control, however, Kopion recovered quickly and had a 1 1/2-lengthadvantage on Don’t Bring Crazy three furlongs out and increased her lead to 2 1/2lengths at the quarter pole. Hand ridden to the wire, Kopion never was threatenedand galloped out powerfully.

“Her trip wasgood,” Prat said. “She was a bit sharper today, but she jumped well out ofthere, and she looked around a bit when she was on the lead. Besides that shedid everything perfect.”

Off at 1-5 inher 6 1/2-furlong debut Nov. 26 at Del Mar, Kopion was again off at 1-5 vs. threerival sophomore fillies Sunday and paid $2.40 and $2.10 with no show wagering.

A $270,000Keeneland September 2022 yearling sale graduate, Kopion is owned by SpendthriftFarm and is out of the Victory Gallop mare Galloping Ami. She picked up $60,000for the win, increasing her bankroll to $96,600.

“It lookedlike when she went out to the track she settled down, she warmed up nice, andwent to the gate nice,” Mandella said. “She left there running, and she kind ofgave us that feeling when we were in the paddock. She showed her class.”

The longest shot in the field with JuanHernandez up at 16-1, Don’t Bring Crazy sat second the entire trip and paid$4.60 to place after finishing 4 3/4 lengths in front of unlucky Tambo in third.

Bossy Bruin Gal (24-1) was never a threat,and she finished last, another 5 3/4 lengths up the track. The positions of thefield did not change after the first quarter-mile.