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Riches runs them ragged in Santa Anita Oaks
Rags to Riches nearly doubled her bankroll to $360,100 while advancing her line to 4-3-0-0. Her lone unplaced effort came in her debut last June at Churchill Downs, when she broke slowly but got up for fourth. Reappearing in January at Santa Anita, she broke her maiden by six lengths, then handled the steep class rise along with her compromising trip to take the Las Virgenes. Bred in Kentucky by Skara Glen Stables, the winner is out of Grade 2 heroine Better Than Honour (Deputy Minister), who finished second in the 1999 Acorn S. (G1) and third in the Mother Goose S. (G1), earning $250,920 from an 8-2-4-2 mark. The 11-year-old mare is out of 1982 Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine Blush with Pride (Blushing Groom [Fr]), making her a full sister to Group 3 victor Turnberry Isle (Ire) (Deputy Minister) and a half-sister to Group 2 heroine and Group 1 runner-up Smolensk (Danzig) as well as Group 1 runner-up Maryinsky (Ire) (Sadler's Wells). This is the female family of multiple classic winner El Gran Senor (Northern Dancer), who was a champion in England and Ireland; English and Irish champion Try My Best (Northern Dancer); English, French and Irish highweight Xaar (Zafonic); and Spinning World (Nureyev), who captured the 1997 Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) and was highweighted in both France and Ireland. A half-sister to last year's Belmont S. (G1) winner Jazil (Seeking the Gold), Rags to Riches was purchased for $1.9 million as a Keeneland September yearling. She also has an unnamed two-year-old half-brother by Mineshaft and an unnamed yearling half-brother by Giant's Causeway. Rags to Riches' tour de force performance has fueled speculation that she could take on colts. Both Pletcher and Tabor addressed the inevitable question. "When we first started out, the plan was the Las Virgenes, the Santa Anita Oaks and the Kentucky Oaks ([G1] on May 4)," Pletcher said, "but when you get a filly that's bred like this, that obviously the further they go, the better she's supposed to get, it makes you think about other possibilities. She's had a pretty easy race today, so I'd say it opens up the possibility of maybe trying something in between this and the Kentucky Oaks. It maybe opens up the option of running her against colts between now and the Oaks. That (next race) might make a decision on whether or not she actually runs in the Oaks." "She'll probably stick with the girls," Tabor said, "but at the end of the day, you never know. But she is nominated to the Triple Crown."
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