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Distinctiv Passion carries speed in Midnight Lute

Mike Smith kept Distinctiv Passion "happy" on the front end (Benoit Photos) Distinctiv Passion blistered his rivals on the front end of Saturday's Grade 3, $100,500 Midnight Lute at Santa Anita. After dueling through an opening quarter-mile in :21 1/5, the four-year-old colt shook loose rounding the far turn and was never seriously threatened, ripping off splits of :42 4/5 and 1:07 3/5 en route to completing 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14 2/5. Mike Smith was up for trainer Jeff Bonde as Distinctiv Passion registered his first graded victory, scoring by 1 3/4 lengths. The dark bay son of With Distinction is owned by Edward Brown Jr., Alan Klein and Phillip Lebherz. "I was just trying to get along with him," Smith said. "The way to keep him going turning for home is to get along with him on the backside. If you can't do that, they won't finish for you. I wanted to keep him happy and I was in a great post (far outside) to do that. "Believe it or not, they went in forty two, but he rated. Rating doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go slow. He's got a high cruising speed. I got him comfortable and he was happy going that fast. He had his ears up; I thought we were going in twenty four. Down the lane he was able to hold them off. I was running on fumes by the end but you're supposed to when you go that fast."

"Mike Smith's the master," Bonde added.

Second when making his 2014 bow in the September 20 Katella at Los Alamitos, Distinctive Passion was making his third start of the year following a turf allowance/optional claiming win at Del Mar on November 14. His lone previous stakes tally came in the listed San Pedro in early 2013 and he also finished third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship that same fall.

With Saturday's $60,000 paycheck, the Florida-bred increased his bankroll to $336,180 from a 13-6-1-4 line. Distinctiv Passion left the starting gate as the 6-1 second choice and returned a $15.60 win mutuel.

Heir of Storm, a 28-1 outsider, held second throughout, winding up a nose better on the wire than the late-running Appealing Tale at 31-1. Grade 1 hero Secret Circle, the overwhelming 1-5 favorite following runner-up finishes in the Cigar Mile H. and Breeders' Cup Sprint, stalked the pace in third before coming up empty in the stretch drive and wound up fourth.

Bred by Harold J. Plumley, Distinctiv Passion is out of the unraced West By West mare Dance forthe Green and counts stakes winner Italo as a full brother. This is the immediate female family of Grade 2 winner Brooke's Halo.

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