From Santa Anita Publicity
ARCADIA, Calif. (June 3, 2018)–Despite never having run beyond six furlongs, lightly raced Loving Lynda settled nicely off the early pace and mustered a stretch drive to out-finish favored Spiced Perfection by a half length in Sunday’s $200,000 Melair Stakes for Golden State Series eligible 3-year-old fillies bred or sired in California. Ridden by Geovanni Franco, trained by Phil D’Amato and owned and bred by Darren and Jim Robbins, Loving Lynda got a mile and a sixteenth over the Santa Anita main track in 1:44.94.
“Phil just said he didn’t want to see me on the lead,” said Franco, who notched his second win on the day and who had guided the daughter of Empire Way to her 5 ½ furlong maiden win here on April 28. “He said to find a comfortable spot to let her run and she sure did. I was expecting a lot from her because she’s shown me in the first few races that she’s definitely a runner.
“It was just a matter of getting a good trip and making sure she finished well. Once I asked her to go, she kept on running and never gave up. She was having a tough time with the one-horse (Spiced Perfection) on the lead, but she fought and she won.”
Off at 6-1 amongst a field of seven in her third career start, Loving Lynda paid $15.00, $4.60 and $2.80.
The win was a real family affair as Loving Lynda is named for Jim Robbins’ wife and the filly’s dam (Wild Baby Girl, by Misbah) has two full siblings, both named for their grandchildren.
“I’m very happy for Jim Robbins and Darren (Robbins, son of Jim and Lynda),” said D’Amato. “They’ve been big supporters of me, so this feels good. It looked like it was slow motion, like she was just steadily grinding away and I was just happy thinking we’d get a piece of it…
“She’s just a hard-trying filly. To go from 5 ½ furlongs to a mile and a sixteenth in stakes company takes a lot. She’s not the biggest filly, but she’s got a huge heart and she grinds away. I think she’ll get better with age.”
With the winner’s check of $110,000, Loving Lynda now has earnings of $153,200. Second in her six furlong debut on April 1, she’s now 3-2-1-0.
Breaking from the rail, heavily favored Spiced Perfection got a perfect waiting ride under Joe Talamo, who sat close to the pace throughout, saved ground, split horses two-deep turning for home, gained the advantage over early leader Coco Kisses, but was second best on the day.
Off at even money, Spiced Perfection paid $2.60 and $2.20 while finishing 1 ¼ lengths in front of a fast finishing One Fast Broad.
Ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, One Fast Broad was reserved well off the early pace and finished well to be third, a half length in front of Pulpit Rider. Off at 9-1, One Fast Broad paid $3.80 to show.
Fractions on the race were 23.46, 46.75, 1:11.30 and 1:37.99.
Racing resumes with a four-day week on Thursday. First post time for an eight-race card is at 12:30 p.m., admission gates open at 10 a.m.