Buena Vista

Winner of the nine-furlong San Gorgonio H. (G2) in January, Martin S.

Schwartz's SILVER CUP (Ire) (Almutawakel [GB]) cut back to a mile in

Monday's $150,000

Buena Vista H. (G2)

at Santa Anita and showed who's queen in

the California turf distaff ranks. Trained by Patrick Biancone and ridden by

Victor Espinoza, the four-year-old Italian import caught Elusive Diva (Elusive

Quality) and Mirabilis (Lear Fan) inside the final furlong to win going away by

three parts of a length, improving her career mark to 12-7-1-1 with earnings of

$469,485.

Breaking from the far outside in the 11-horse field, Silver Cup settled into

a stalking third as Elusive Diva established uncontested splits of :23 2/5 and

:47 2/5. The pacesetter still held a 1 1/2-length advantage over Mirabilis through

six furlongs in 1:11, but the field was bunching up behind the front runners and

the race appeared wide open as they turned for home. The cavalry charge never

materialized, however, as Silver Cup asserted her superiority with a strong

stretch run, powering past under left-handed urging to complete eight furlongs

over the firm turf in 1:34 4/5.

"Everything worked out perfect for me," Espinoza said. "I saw the speed horse

(Elusive Diva) was inside of me (post 10), so that kind of helped me because I

wanted to follow her and jump on her. I didn't want to be too wide on the turn, and it worked out perfect."

Sent off the 7-1 fourth choice, the dark bay filly paid $16.20, $8.20 and

$5.80. Elusive Diva, who held second by a nose over Mirabilis, was off at 8-1

and gave back $8.60 and $5.40. Mirabilis, the slight 7-2 favorite, returned

$4.60 after holding Ticker Tape (GB) (Royal Applause [GB]) to fourth by a

half-length. The $1 exotics totaled $65.80 (exacta), $549.20 (trifecta) and

$1,977.20 for the 13-12-10-7 superfecta.

Shining Energy (Rahy), Toupie (GB) (Intikhab), Royal Copenhagen (Fr) (Inchinor

[GB]), Katdogawn (GB) (Bahhare), Halo Ola (Arg) (Southern Halo),

Beautyandthebeast (GB) (Machiavellian) and Flip Flop (Fr) (Zieten) rounded out

the order of finish. Three Degrees (Ire) (Singspiel [Ire]) and Awesome Lady (Bianconi)

were scratched.

Winner of the Italian One Thousand Guineas (Ity-G2) last year, Silver Cup

finished seventh when making her U.S. bow last July in the American Invitational

Oaks (G1) and was then transferred to Biancone. She recorded a third in the Mrs.

Revere S. (G2) at Churchill Downs last November and earned her first U.S. stakes

victory in the San Gorgonio. Bred in Ireland by Emmet Beston, she's out of the

winning Ribblesdale (Northern Park).