With 4-5 morning line favorite Justique scratched earlier, Richard Mandella's Ice Dancing inherited the role of heavy favorite in Sunday's $200,000 Santa Ynez Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita and she did not disappoint, rallying for a decisive 3 ¼-length win.
With Flavien Prat breaking his stakes drought on day eight of the current Classic Meet, Ice Dancing covered seven furlongs in 1:22.78.
An aptly named gray daughter of Frosted, Ice Dancing broke sharply from the far outside in a field of five sophomore fillies and settled nicely into stride in the run up the backstretch. Last, about 3 ½ lengths off pacesetter Fast and Shiny midway on the turn, Ice Dancing was well within herself as she angled three-deep at the top of the lane and took command leaving the furlong marker to win as much the best.
Third three starts back in the Grade I Del Mar Debutante, Ice Dancing came off a gate-to-wire one-mile maiden win Nov. 25 and was off as the 1-2 favorite today, returning $3 for the victory.
“She jumped well out of there and it felt like the pace was really strong, so I kind of kept myself off of the pace a little bit and it felt like she was traveling well,” said Prat, who was aboard for the maiden win at Del Mar. “She responded well when I asked her to make her move.”
Owned and bred in Kentucky by Perry and Ramona Bass, Ice Dancing, who is out of the Henny Hughes mare Welcome Dance, picked up $120,000 for the win, boosting her earnings to $219,600 from an overall mark of 2-0-2 from five starts.
“She's a big, strong filly, so the Las Virgenes (Grade 3, one mile on Jan. 28) is a big possibility,” said Mandella when asked about her next engagement. “More than likely…We'll have a look.”
Ridden by Edwin Maldonado, the Doug O'Neill-trained Satin Doll rallied well at the rail through the lane and finished second by a head over Fast and Shiny.
One of three Bob Baffert entrants, Fast and Shiny, who was off at 11-1 with Ramon Vazquez, finished seven lengths in front of stablemate Parody. Huntingcoco completed the order of finish.
Fractions on the race were :22.02, :44.68, and 1:09.29.
The Santa Ynez is a qualifying race to the Kentucky Oaks (G1) on May 5 at Churchill Downs and provided points on a 10-4-3-2-1 basis to the five finishers.
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