Explora rolls in Santa Ynez; So Happy beats Buetane in San Vicente

Explora soared to the top of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard with her romp, as the 1-20 favorite, in Saturday’s $98,000 Santa Ynez S. at Santa Anita. 

After Explora gave Bob Baffert his eighth Santa Ynez victory, stablemate Buetane was odds-on to extend the Hall of Famer’s record in the $200,000 San Vicente (G2). But Buetane was unable to deliver a 15th San Vicente trophy for Baffert, once the Mark Glatt-trained So Happy beat him to the punch and stayed on well to the wire.

If Baffert couldn’t turn the sophomore stakes double, sire Blame can claim bragging rights. Blame sired Explora as well as the dam of So Happy.

The San Vicente does not factor in the Kentucky Derby (G1) points system, but So Happy has made his case to advance on the trail. 

Santa Ynez S.

Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman’s Explora ranked as the class of the small field, which was reduced to four by the scratch of stablemate Bottle of Rouge.

Last seen finishing second as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), Explora was bet down to 1-20 odds here. The only potential question was the cutback to seven furlongs, but the pace was hot enough to set up her last-to-first kick. 

Favorite backers might have had a slight cause for pause when Explora had to be nudged along at the rear by Juan Hernandez. Three lengths behind after an opening quarter in :22.30, she had four lengths to find by the half in :44.21. As soon as the rangy dark bay began to wind up, though, the race was over.

Explora closed the gap rounding the far turn and brought the full force of her momentum to bear on the leaders. Stablemate Himika and La Wally, who had been sparring on the front end, had no answer. Neither did the stalking Revera.

In command by midstretch, Explora drew off to a 5 1/2-length victory in 1:22.05. She added 10 Oaks points, increasing her total to 35. Juvenile Fillies winner Super Corredora now sits second on the leaderboard with 30.

“Down the backside,” Baffert said, “it looked like maybe she was just not running. I think they were just going really fast. I was hoping to get an easy lead with Himika. She wanted to run on the lead, but they were pressing her hard the whole way.

“All of a sudden when (Hernandez) had her (Explora) geared up, you can see that she was taking off.”

La Wally soldiered on as second-best (five points), doubling her tally to 10. Revera checked in a one-paced third (three points). Himika took home two points in a trailing fourth, and she now has three points in total. 

Explora sports a mark of 5-3-2-0, $628,000. Although she dominated her 5 1/2-furlong debut at Del Mar last summer, she was upset by Bottle of Rouge in the Del Mar Debutante (G1). Explora figured to benefit by stretching out to two turns, and she promptly did so when running away with the Oak Leaf (G2) at Santa Anita. That solidified her favoritism for the Breeders’ Cup, but she couldn’t catch front-running Super Corredora.

With this Santa Ynez rebound out of the way, Explora can set her sights on a rematch with Super Corredora.

“It’s nice after the Breeders’ Cup, she came back and she is back in form,” Baffert said. “It’s good to see her back in form…

“It’s going to be two turns from here to the rest of her life.”

Bred by Mesingw Farm in Kentucky, Explora initially sold for $22,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. She commanded $350,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile.

Explora is out of the Bernardini mare Collections Choice. Her second dam is the multiple Grade 1-placed stakes winner Model, herself a daughter of Giant’s Causeway and British classic-placed Snowfire. 

San Vicente (G2)

Baffert and Hernandez were widely expected to follow up with Buetane, who went off as the 1-2 favorite in his San Vicente comeback. The Zedan Racing Stables colorbearer had the form in the book, as the runner-up to presumptive champion Ted Noffey in last summer’s Hopeful (G1) at Saratoga. But he ran into an intriguing up-and-comer here.

Co-owned by Norman Stables and Saints or Sinners, So Happy outperformed expectations in his Nov. 22 unveiling at Del Mar, where he rallied to win at 38-1. Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith stuck with him in the San Vicente, bettors gave him far more respect as the 2.90-1 second choice, and he again proved effective. 

Patiently handled in the opening strides, So Happy traveled well to move up into third through an opening quarter in :22.03. Pacesetter Acknowledgemeplz was egged on by Baffert’s other runner, Greenwich Village, while Buetane was settled at or near the back of the five-horse field. 

Acknowledgemeplz spurted away from Greenwich Village by reeling off the half in a torrid :43.56. So Happy continued to move smartly in pursuit, and he was on the premises to take charge in midstretch. 

Buetane, who was following So Happy into the lane, could not bridge the gap in the final furlong. Instead, So Happy firmly maintained his grip by two lengths.

Acknowledgemeplz held third, another 2 1/4 lengths astern. Next came Thirsty Rebel and Greenwich Village.

Clocking seven furlongs in 1:21.12, nearly a second faster than Explora, So Happy returned $7.80. The bay has earned $156,000 from his 2-for-2 record.

So Happy was bred by Leverett S. Miller in Kentucky. His dam, the Blame mare So Cunning, hails from the family of multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Silver Wagon. 

Like Explora, So Happy brought more interest at auction at two than he did in his infancy. The $12,000 Keeneland November weanling and $20,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling became a $150,000 OBS March juvenile.

Glatt explained that So Happy was always well regarded, but the colt’s immaturity led him to imagine that he’d need racing experience. 

“He’s kind of a looky-loo in the morning,” Glatt said. “As a matter of fact, we train him in blinkers every day because he wants to look at everything, so I just thought maybe he’s a horse that may need the race a little bit. But I did expect him to run well (first time out). 

“Honestly, I didn’t think he would run quite that well (on debut), and he backed up that first race with an awesome performance today.”

Smith is looking forward to So Happy’s further development. 

“He was well within himself running underneath the wire,” the winning rider said. “I was really happy with the way he did things. I thank Mark and his team and the owners for the opportunity. Who knows, we will see where he takes us.”