Making her first start in more than six months, Little Red Feather Racing's Elm Drive fired off her third stakes triumph in taking the $200,000 Monrovia for older fillies and mares Saturday at Santa Anita.
The race was scheduled for 6 ½ furlongs on turf but was shifted to dirt, thus losing its Grade 3 status pending a review by the American Graded Stakes Committee.
Sent off at 7-1 odds, the Mohaymen filly was winning for the fourth time in nine career starts when scoring by three-quarters of length over Big Summer, with Kirstenbosch a neck farther back in third.
Elm Drive paid $17.20 after running the distance in 1:15.56 on a track rated as fast. Ridden by Ramon Vazquez for trainer Phil D'Amato, she was starting for the first time since finishing sixth in the Weather Vane Stakes Sept. 24 on the main track at Pimlico.
Bred in Kentucky by Kenneth D'Oyen, Elm Drive was produced by the Indian Charlie mare Lets Dance Charlie. She was a $165,000 purchase from consignor Paul Sharp at the 2021 OBS March 2-year-olds in training sale.
Elm Drive's record includes a triumph in the 2021 Sorrento (G2) at Del Mar. With Saturday win, her lifetime bankroll increased to $348,140.
Monrovia Stakes Quotes:
JOCKEY RAMON VAZQUEZ, ELM DRIVE, WINNER: “Thank you to the owners and the trainer for the opportunity. I was just comfortable because I got a perfect trip. I was just waiting for the moment to ask her and when I asked her she responded really well.”
TRAINER PHIL D'AMATO, ELM DRIVE, WINNER: “She's a graded stakes winner on the dirt so that definitely didn't hurt. The filly was just fresh and ready to go. We missed a spot a couple of weeks ago but this is a better spot now.”
OWNER GARY FENTON, LITTLE RED FEATHER RACING, ELM DRIVE, WINNER: “She is primarily a dirt horse, so of all of the decisions of all the owners here had to make, I think ours was the easiest. We wanted to run a couple weeks ago on the dirt, but something happened there, so we tried her on the turf. The way of being on the inside and having the speed that she does, and seeing the speed from the outside, really put us in a predicament. We told Ramon to play the break and I'm unsure it was the best circumstance for her, but then she came up right along the rail and the other horses were coming at her, and that's where her heart came in.”
The post ‘Fresh And Ready To Go’: Elm Drive Wins Off-The-Turf Monrovia In First Start Off Layoff appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
