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Intangaroo upsets Santa Monica
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Intangaroo surprised her trainer as well as her Santa Monica rivals
(Benoit Photo) |
Tom Grether Farms Inc.'s INTANGAROO (Orientate) split horses in midstretch,
moved to the inside and just got her nose down on the wire to shock in
Saturday's $250,000
Santa
Monica H. (G1) as the 26-1 longest shot on the board. The Gary
Sherlock-trained four-year-old rewarded her faithful backers with payouts of
$55.80, $13.20 and $32 while keying $1 exotics worth $119.50 (exacta) and
$371.40 (6-2-4 trifecta).
"We were running for third," a candid Sherlock admitted. "She's a nice filly,
and I would have been happy to hit the board...I could make an excuse for all
the races she got beat.
"I hurt my hand from hitting the box (seat during the stretch run)," he added
after earning his first Grade 1 score.
Overly Tempting (In Excess [Ire]) was quickest from the gate and
moved to the fore through splits of :21 3/5, :44 and 1:07 3/5. Silky Smooth (Mr.
Greeley) and 1-5 favorite Hystericalady (Distorted Humor) weren't far back,
battling it out for second and eventually closing the gap on the outside.
Meanwhile, jockey Alonso Quinonez and Intangaroo were patiently keeping pace in
fourth and actually appeared out of it entering the stretch.
Overly Tempting maintained her lead into the lane, but found Society Hostess
(Seeking the Gold) ranging up to her outside. Intangaroo suddenly cut toward the
inside, and a three-horse photo was in the cards as the trio flashed under the
line together. When the film was developed, Intangaroo's nose was shown on the
line with a final time of 1:20 3/5 posted for seven furlongs on Santa Anita's
Cushion Track.
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"This filly was very, very, game," said Quinonez, who was also racking up his
first Grade 1 victory. "All I had to do was follow Mr. Sherlock's instructions.
He told me to save something for the stretch and everything went great. This is
unbelievable, it feels great."
Society Hostess was 1 1/2 lengths up on Overly Tempting at the wire, paying
$5.20 and $18.20 as the 5-1 third pick in the five-horse field. Show gave back
$16.80 at 9-2, and it was another 3 3/4 lengths back to Hystericalady, who
appeared to be spinning her wheels in the stretch run. Silky Smooth followed by
five lengths and Pussycat Doll (Real Quiet) was withdrawn.
Bred by Pollock Farms & Taylor Made Farm Inc. in Kentucky, Intangaroo is the
second registered foal out of the multiple stakes-winning Tasso's Magic Roo (Tasso),
who has since produced an unraced sophomore colt named Downthestretch
(Johannesburg) and an unnamed juvenile colt by Chapel Royal.
The four-year-old Intangaroo was making her stakes debut in this spot and now
shows a 9-3-2-1 mark while more than doubling her earnings to $244,800. The
filly attracted a final bid of $37,000 at the 2005 Keeneland September Yearling
sale.
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