From Santa Anita Publicity
ARCADIA, Calif. (Nov. 2, 2018)–A winner of her previous two starts by a combined 15 ¾ lengths, trainer Bob Hess’s Give Me a Hint overcame her rail post position in a field of nine 2-year-old fillies and rolled to an emphatic 2 ¼ length win in Friday’s $200,000 Golden State Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita. Ridden by Evin Roman, Give Me a Hint, who is owned by her co-breeders Schroeder Farms, LLC and Welton Mansfield, got seven furlongs in 1:26.45.
Attentive to the pace while well within herself early, Give Me Hint, a California-bred daughter of Merit Man, out of the Beat Hollow mare Hint of Promise, was a joint fourth at the rail, about 1 ½ lengths off the lead three furlongs from home. At the quarter pole, Roman angled out and wheeled four-wide at the top of the stretch en route to asserting her superiority late.
“Absolutely I’m excited,” said co-owner/breeder Cathy Schroeder. “When you breed in California, it’s the best. We’ve got a wonderful stud, Merit Man, and I’m so high on him. Especially winning with him like we are.”
The Golden State Juvenile Fillies is part of the lucrative Golden State Series for California-bred or sired horse. The winning stallion, Merit Man, will stand at B G Thoroughbred Farm in Hemet for 2019.
A 9 ¼ length first-out Cal-bred maiden $50,000 claiming winner Aug. 12 at Del Mar, Give Me a Hint stretched out a sixteenth of a mile to win a six furlong starter allowance here on Oct. 12 by 6 ½ lengths. Dispatched at 5-1 today, she paid $13.20, $5.80 and $4.00.
“I trained the sire and this filly’s dam, so it makes it fun,” said Hess, who also teamed with the Schroeder family and Roman to win Friday’s sixth race with another 2-year-old daughter of Merit Man, All Tea All Shade. “Mentally, she’s a cool filly, she does things right. We thought she’d run big today.”
Roman, who starred as America’s Eclipse Award winning Apprentice Jockey in 2017, was understandably elated.
“I wasn’t worried about the rail because she’s a very smart filly,” he said. “She relaxed very well and she was perfect sitting behind the speed, very relaxed. When we went to the outside, she finished very strong.”
Off as the 6-5 favorite, Mucho Unusual was clearly second best on the day. Ridden by Geovanni Franco, she paid $3.00 and $2.40 while finishing a half length in front of early pacesetter Hotitude.
Ridden by Martin Pedroza, Hotitude was off at 25-1 and paid $8.80 to show.
Fractions on the race were 22.27, 45.73 and 1:12.22.