From Santa Anita Publicity
ARCADIA, Calif. (Dec. 26, 2018)–Unimpeded while four-wide turning for home, California-bred Spiced Perfection proved she belongs in elite company as she powered to a 1 ¼ length win in Wednesday’s Grade I, $300,000 La Brea Stakes. Ridden by Flavien Prat and trained by Brian Koriner, the 3-year-old daughter of Smiling Tiger got seven furlongs in 1:23.54.
Breaking from the far outside in a field of eight, Spiced Perfection sat just behind a four-horse spread that included 3-5 favorite Dream Tree heading to the three furlong pole. As Emboldened, ridden by Joe Talamo, slipped through on the rail around the far turn, Dream Tree fell out of contention a quarter mile out, leaving Hot Autumn, Happy Like a Fool and Emboldened to the winner’s immediate inside at the top of the lane.
“She really did it on her own,” said Koriner. “[Flavia Prat] even had to slow her down on the backside because she was running up there. I was just hoping she wasn’t too fresh and get tired late. It was a great move up, to have little pedigree and win a Grade I, I don’t know what that does for her but we’re happy. She’s got over half a million dollars now so that always helps.”
A seven furlong Cal-bred stakes winner Nov. 11 at Del Mar, Spiced Perfection, who was facing graded stakes competition for the first time, was off at 5-1 and paid $12.80, $6.20 and $4.00.
“This was her last shot against three-year-old fillies, we almost ran at Golden Gate for $75,000 a month ago and it would’ve been smashing everything into her so it was worth a shot here,” said Koriner. “In the meantime, we got an offer for her for half a million dollars and they were going to let me keep her. They made the offer before they ever looked at her and then took back the offer. It was a done deal and they backed out. So it was good to see her win after somebody said ‘No, we don’t want her’.”
Owned by Dare to Dream, LLC, Spiced Perfection notched her sixth win from 14 starts and with the winner’s share of $180,000, increased her earnings to $622,405.
Hot Autumn, ridden by Tyler Baze, completed a Cal-bred exacta, as the daughter of Tiz Wonderful finished a head in front of Emboldened for the place. Off at 33-1, Hot Autumn paid $22.60 and $8.00.