Include Me Out draws off in La Canada

Include Me Out, trained by Ron Ellis for Jay Em Ess Stable, continued

a stellar weekend for breeder Brereton C. Jones when pulling away in the

stretch of Sunday's Grade 2, $150,000

La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita to score by 4 1/4 lengths. On

Saturday, Jones saw his homebreds Mr. Bowling and Believe You Can

capture the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes and Silverbulletday Stakes,

respectively, at Fair Grounds.

One day later on the West Coast, Include Me Out entered the gate for

the La Canada as the 8-1 fifth choice in the six-filly field. Jockey Joe

Talamo settled her near the back of the group as May Day Rose moved up

to establish :22 3/5, :45 4/5 and 1:10 fractions. Tiz Flirtatious kept

in close attendance to her outside but found company in the form of

Great Hot nearing the turn.

In the end it didn't matter as Include Me Out circled the field four

wide rounding the turn and took command entering the lane. She merely

extended her margin from there under encouragement from Talamo, crossing

under the wire to stop the clock in 1:41 4/5 for 1 1/16 miles on the

fast dirt.

Include Me Out made just her second start against stakes rivals in this spot,

finishing fifth in her black-type debut in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes last out

on New Year's Eve. The four-year-old daughter of Include has proven competitive

on both dirt and synthetic tracks during her brief career. She broke her maiden

on Del Mar's Polytrack, placed second and won a pair of optional claimers on

Santa Anita's dirt, then was runner-up on Hollywood Park's Cushion Track against

similar prior to her La Brea effort.

"She got in behind horses (when finishing fifth in the La Brea at seven

furlongs) but I think being by Include she was dying to go two turns and it's

kind of been a process getting her up to it. She fired today, that's for sure,"

Ellis said, before adding, "I don't know (where she'll go next). We'll just kind

of wait and see. She's got a half-sister that won a Grade 1 on the grass so

we've got a lot of options, so we'll kind of look at it, think about it and see

where to go."

Include Me Out saw her earnings double to $183,600 with the La Canada

winner's share, and now boasts a 7-3-2-0 mark.