Blingismything just gets the gold in Wilshire

Blingismything just gets the gold in Wilshire

Class Racing Stable's Blingismything (Arch) capitalized on an inside trip,

courtesy of Tyler Baze, to prevail in a blanket finish in Sunday's $100,250

Wilshire

(G3) at Santa Anita. The 5-2 second choice just edged the wide-rallying

Smoove It (Square Eddie) by a nose, with 9-5 favorite Birdlover (Byron) another

head away in third and Indecise (Pleasant Tap) a nose back in fourth.

Blingismything had been knocking on the proverbial door. Beaten a half-length

when second in the January 17 Megahertz, the Eric Kruljac mare was subsequently

third in both the February 16 Buena Vista (G2) and the April 11 Las Cienegas

(G3) last time on the cutback to about 6 1/2 furlongs. The return to a mile

suited her on Sunday.

The original field of eight was reduced by a pair of scratches -- Moulin de

Mougin (Curlin) and Thegirlinthatsong (My Golden Song). Morning-line favorite

Birdlover took up her usual perch on the front end through splits of :23 3/5,

:48 3/5 and 1:13 2/5 on the firm turf. Indecise moved into a prompting second,

while Sky Treasure (Sky Mesa) tried to contend rounding the far turn and into

the stretch.

The game Birdlover repelled both, only to be confronted by closers from

farther back inside the final furlong. Blingismything took the shortest way home

in a final time of 1:37 and paid $7.40.

"I won pretty easy, I thought," Baze said. "I watched it again and knew I had

the win. She's just a nice filly. I broke her maiden first time out a couple of

years ago at Hollywood. This is my first opportunity to ride her back and so I

made the most of it. She's a nice filly with a big heart.

"It is so nice to win one of these for Eric. I was riding for him all the

time when I was at Turf Paradise. I'm pretty sure this is the first stakes I've

ever won for Eric. And Jr. (Ian Kruljac, the trainer's son and assistant) is

awesome; we've known each other forever. He works so hard; he's at the barn

every day at 4 a.m."

Ian Kruljac was asked if he gave instructions to Baze.

"Never," the younger Kruljac said. "I thought we had our head down,

definitely. I was a little nervous we were caught behind with nowhere to go, but

Tyler's got a good head on him and takes the rail, the shortest way around

there."

Smoove It and Birdlover, stablemates from the Doug O'Neill barn, had to

settle for a near-miss second and third. Indecise went down by all of a head in

fourth, and fifth-placer Sky Treasure was only three-quarters of a length off

the winner. The only filly not in the hunt was Uzziel (Harlington), who

retreated to last after being rank and steadied early. 

Blingismything advanced her record to 10-4-2-3, $246,330, compiled

exclusively on turf. A debut winner at Hollywood as a sophomore, the bay placed

in a couple of entry-level allowances, including a runner-up effort to eventual

multiple Grade 2 heroine Pontchatrain, before being sidelined. Blingismything

resurfaced from a 15-month layoff last fall and promptly cleared two allowance

conditions. She turned in her only unplaced effort when stretching out to 1 1/8

miles in her stakes debut, the December 27 Robert J. Frankel (G3), but has been

her consistent self ever since.

"We gave her a nice little breather (before the Las Cienegas), but she was on

her toes so we decided to go in and keep firing," the assistant trainer added.

Bred by Jack Swain in Kentucky, Blingismything went to her current

connections for $60,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. She is out of the

stakes-winning Dancing General (General Meeting), making her a half-sister to

the stakes-placed Wave the Flag (Empire Maker).

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