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Tuscan Evening finds ninth furlong no problem in Santa Ana
"This mare can do anything she wants, especially at this distance," Bejarano said. "I knew we were the speed, and I was very confident in her. I knew the 8 (Cat by the Tale) had some speed, but I didn't think they would want to send her and try to chase me. She stumbled a little bit at the top of the stretch and she lost her momentum for a jump or two, but she was full of run and she got going again." Cat by the Tale, who was content to track early, ranged up to force the issue approaching the far turn and tried her best, but could not keep pace with Tuscan Evening in the stretch. The runner-up finished a clear second by 1 3/4 lengths, paying $3.40 and $2.40 as the 4-1 third choice. General Consensus (Giant's Causeway) closed for third, denying Eissoai (Brz) (Roi Normand) by a nose, and rewarded her backers with $3.20 to show at 9-1. The $1 exacta was worth $6.80, the $1 trifecta totaled $34.50, and the nearly 13-1 Eissoai rounded out the $1 superfecta (3-8-2-1) that was good for $108.60. Defending champion Belmont Cat (NZ) (Felix the Cat) reported home another 3 3/4 lengths adrift in fifth, trailed by April Pride (GB) (Falbrav [Ire]), Treat Gently (GB) (Cape Cross [Ire]) and Chasin Dreams (Cactus Ridge). Tuscan Evening's sixth career stakes coup improved her scorecard to 24-9-4-5, $809,408. The bay made her mark chiefly as a miler last season, garnering the Royal Heroine Mile (G2), Las Palmas H. (G2) and Redondo Beach S. and finishing second in the November 28 Matriarch S. (G1) to conclude 2009. The five-year-old began the new year with a win in the Monrovia H. (G3) on the downhill turf, over which she had previously placed third in both the Las Cienegas H. (G3) and Senator Ken Maddy H. (G3). Tuscan Evening was coming off a convincing victory in the one-mile Buena Vista H. (G2) on Presidents' Day. Formerly based in Ireland with John Joseph Murphy, Tuscan Evening placed in four stakes as a juvenile in 2007, chief among them the Debutante S. (Ire-G2), without managing to break her maiden. At three, the bay crossed the wire a close second in the Irish One Thousand Guineas (Ire-G1), just a head back of Halfway to Heaven (Ire), only to be disqualified and placed fourth. Bred by Hascombe and Valiant Studs in the Emerald Isle, Tuscan Evening was a bargain $8,762 yearling at Tattersalls October. She most recently went through the auction ring at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky in November, fetching a bid of $650,000. Tuscan Evening was produced by Park Hill S. (Eng-G3) runner-up The Faraway Tree (Suave Dancer), who is herself a half-sister to French Group 1 winner Sasuru (Most Welcome [GB]) and English Group 2 heroine Sally Rous (Ire) (Rousillon). Tuscan Evening hails from the family of Rose Gypsy (GB) (Green Desert), queen of the 2001 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas) (Fr-G1), and English Group 2 victress Crystal Capella (Cape Cross [Ire]), who was runner-up as the defending champion in the October 17 Pride S. (Eng-G2) at Newmarket. Hollendorfer indicated that Tuscan Evening could make her next start in the May 1 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2) on Kentucky Derby Day.
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