Not a bad day. Trainer Phil D'Amato notched three graded wins on Saturday—two at Santa Anita and one at Keeneland, as well as one other stakes at the Arcadia, California track.
D'Amato capped his banner day with Rhea Moon, who charged home to take the $100,000 Autumn Miss Stakes (G3) by 1 ¼ lengths at Santa Anita, site of three of his stakes wins.
With his biggest victory Saturday at Santa Anita coming with Irish-bred Going Global in the Goldikova Stakes (G2), D'Amato's second stakes win on the card came with English-bred Amy C in the listed Senator Ken Maddy before capturing his third in the Autumn Miss. Across the country at Keeneland, D'Amato won the Bryan Station Stakes (G3) with Irish-bred Balnikhov.
With Juan Hernandez collecting his second stakes win on the day in the Autumn Miss, Rhea Moon got one mile on turf in 1:34.44.
Unhurried in the run to the first turn, Rhea Moon sat seventh in a field of 11, about six lengths off longshot Lucky Girl as the field straightened for their run up the backside. With Hernandez biding his time, Rhea Moon inched into contention mid-way around the far turn, swung five-deep approaching the furlong pole and drew clear while unthreatened by an onrushing Nadette late.
A one mile turf allowance winner on Aug. 21, Rhea Moon, who had two wins from five stateside starts with D'Amato, was off at 6-1 and paid $14.60.
Owned by Rockingham Ranch and Talla Racing, LLC, Rhea Moon, in getting her first stakes win, picked up $60,000, increasing her earnings to $191,831. Winless in a pair of starts in Ireland, she's now 3-3-2 overall from eight starts.
Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, French-bred Nadette flew from far back to finish second by three quarters of a length over D'Amato's Kitty Kitana.
Fractions on the race were :23.36, :47.36, 1:11.17, and 1:22.97.
AUTUMN MISS STAKES (G3) QUOTES
JOCKEY QUOTES
JUAN HERNANDEZ, RHEA MOON, WINNER: “I felt the pace was a little faster but when I came back and saw the fractions it wasn't fast at all. My filly she relaxed well and was waiting for me to ask her to go to win the race.
“I love to ride horses, this is my job and my passion, so I'm going to keep riding all the horses I get well.”
TRAINER QUOTES
PHILIP D'AMATO, RHEA MOON, WINNER: “This filly really turned the corner. Juan figured her out. She was very impressive at Del Mar and we had this race in mind after that performance. She was slowly developing. We had to space her out to recoup. The way she won today, she came with that run like she can run all day. The American Oaks might be next for her.”
OWNER QUOTES
GARY HARTUNIAN, ROCKINGHAM RANCH, RHEA MOON, WINNER: “I like to have two horses in every race. I was rooting for Pammy's Ready until about the quarter pole and then here comes Rhea Moon. She comes home in like :22 and change and she can fly, so I just said, 'J.J. don't let her stop coming down the stretch. If you have to go wide, go wide but just let her leave it all on the track.' and he did.”
The post Rhea Moon Rolls Late For Autumn Miss Triumph To Give Trainer D’Amato Third Graded Win Saturday appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
