Spirit of Xian upset the Providencia (Benoit Photos)

Ben Keswick's Spirit of Xian (Kodiac) had never raced beyond a sprint, and her only prior attempt to set the early pace resulted in a fourth in a listed stakes at Naas last June. But none of that mattered in Saturday's $151,750 Providencia (G3) at Santa Anita, where the 16-1 shot successfully carried her speed over 1 1/8 miles to spring a wire-to-wire upset.

Well handled by Joe Talamo, the Richard Mandella filly got away with comfortable fractions of :23 2/5, :47 and 1:11 2/5 on the firm turf. Spirit of Xian spurted clear in the stretch, reaching the mile mark in 1:35 4/5, and then held on for dear life. Spanish Queen (Tribal Rule) and 8-5 favorite Entrechat (Giant's Causeway) were bearing down late, but the pacesetter was game all the way to the line. Spirit of Xian finished in 1:48 and sparked a $35.60 win mutuel.

"You could see, she meant to be on the lead, and Joe did a great job," Mandella said. "I was lacking confidence, and I told Joe, 'If you're not sure she can get the last quarter, get off and run yourself.' He didn't have to."

"Coming off that sprint race in her last out, she really showed a lot of speed the whole way today," Talamo said. "When she got to the front, she relaxed nicely and all the credit has to go to Mr. Mandella. You don't see too many fillies going from a 6 1/2 (furlong) race to winning a mile and eighth turf race in their next out, so really all the credit goes to him. He gave me enough horse to work with today."

Spanish Queen missed by a neck, while Entrechat was another half-length back in third. Prize Exhibit (Showcasing) rallied from last, met with traffic trouble along the way, and did well to grab fourth in the 12-filly field.