Senator Ken Maddy

Branch, Branch, Konecny et al's ELUSIVE DIVA (Elusive Quality) once again

displayed her affinity for Santa Anita's about 6 1/2-furlong downhill turf course,

tracking the pace until upper stretch and bounding away to an easy three-length

score in Wednesday's $100,000

Senator Ken Maddy H. (G3). The Mark Glatt-trained

four-year-old filly improved to three-for-three over the unusual American course

and captured the Oak Tree Racing Association's opening day feature in 1:11 2/5

with Patrick Valenzuela up. 

Winner of the Las Cienegas H. (G3) and Wishing Well H. earlier this year down

the hill, Elusive Diva sat close on Wednesday while Bella Banissa (Good and

Tough) set fractions of :21 4/5 and :43 4/5 over the firm turf. She moved to the

fore when asked after crossing over the main track and quickly opened up an

insurmountable advantage, easily holding the late-running Chasethegold (Touch

Gold) at bay in second.

Favored at 3-2, Elusive Diva paid $5, $4 and $2.80 to her supporters.

Chasethegold, off at 20-1, closed well on the grandstand side to be an easy

second and gave back $12.20 and $8.40. It was another length back to the 17-1

Abounding Truth (Proudest Romeo) in third. Show was good for $7.40, and the $1

exotics totaled $33.90 (exacta), $379.50 (trifecta) and $2,511.60 for the

3-10-2-12 superfecta. Pickle (GB) (Piccolo), Shining Energy (Rahy), The Yellow

Sheet (Benchmark), Tara's Touch (SAf) (Tara's Halls), Bella Banissa, Puxa Saco (Dehere),

Royal Wave (Royal Academy) and Navaja (NZ) (Daggers Drawn) rounded out the order

of finish. Valentine Dancer (In Excess [Ire]), Very Vegas (Storm Boot) and

Ahuriri Hikawai (NZ) (Exploding Prospect) were scratched.

Bred in Kentucky by John and Doris Konecny, Elusive Diva improved her overall

mark to 14-6-1-3 with $414,730 in earnings. The bay filly captured last year's

Railbird S. (G3) at Hollywood and has placed in the La Brea S. (G1), Hollywood

Breeders' Cup Oaks (G2), A Gleam Invitational H. (G2) and Buena Vista H. (G3).

She's out of the stakes-winning Taj Aire (Taj Alriyadh), who is also the dam of

stakes victors R. Baggio (Chimes Band) and Handyman Bill (Skywalker). The

14-year-old dam has an unraced two-year-old filly named No Lullaby (Brahms), a

yearling filly named Diva's Seastar (Broken Vow) and weanling colt by Belong to

Me.