Willa B Awesome rebounded from a fourth-place finish in last month's Las Virgenes Stakes (gr. I) to take the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks (gr. I) this afternoon at Santa Anita Park by a nose.
Ridden to victory by Martin Pedroza, Willa B Awesome settled into the third position early on as Reneesgotzip set a quick pace of :23.41 and :46.81 while being pressured by Eden's Moon. Bella's Fantasy and Conjure the Spirit were the early trailers.
Moving down the backstretch, Eden's Moon moved up to challenge Reneesgotzip for the lead, but the front-running filly turned her back around the far turn and entered the homestretch with an advantage of two lengths. However, Willa B Awesome was beginning to roll on the far outside, and wore down Reneesgotzip in the final stride to win the race by a nose. The final time for the one mile and a sixteenth was 1:42.47.
Eden's Moon finished third, followed by Bella's Fantasy and Conjure the Spirit. The winner is trained by Walther Solis and has now won two graded stakes races during this Santa Anita meet, the other being the Santa Ysabel Stakes (gr. III) back in January. She will likely head to Louisville as one of the favorites for the $1,000,000 Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) on May 4th.
-Keelerman
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