Hoop of Colour proves best in Santa Ana

"Last race we went really, really slow and her kick, I had never felt

anything like that before," Van Dyke said. "Today, right out of the gate, I was set up perfect, she

broke well. The only other speed was Three Hearts and the other Motion horse,

Rusty Slipper.

"I got right behind Rusty Slipper; my horse threw her ears up and

she was so relaxed. Near the half-mile pole only two horses were in front of me

so I got out, stayed off Three Hearts' hip and I had clear sailing from there

when I asked her to run with no trouble."

Hoop of Colour made four starts last year in England, breaking her maiden at

Newbury in the second of those, before shipping stateside. This first black-type

score bumped her career earnings to $164,906.

"She's a really nice filly, and all that family, three or four of them,

have been graded stakes winners. She's shown a lot of talent since she's been

here," assistant trainer Alice Clapham noted. "Drayden won on her first time here and she's been training

great since then, and this race kind of came up so we thought we'd just take a

shot, and it worked out well.

"I'm sure Graham will talk to the owners and sort that out (what might be

next). We might run her back here in that mile and quarter turf race ($150,000

Santa Barbara H. [G3] on April 18), or she might go to Keeneland."

Bred in Kentucky, Hoop of Colour is the last registered foal out of Grade 2

winner Surya (Unbridled), making her a half-sister to Grade 1 queen Aruna (Mr.

Greeley). Her second dam is Group 3-placed listed victress Wild Planet (Nureyev),

who is also the granddam of fellow listed scorer and French classic-placed

Honoured Guest (Danehill).

This is the same female family as Grade 1-winning millionaires Sabin (Lyphard),

Film Maker (Dynaformer) and Miss Oceana (Alydar).

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