ARCADIA, Calif. (Mar. 17, 2024) – Favored Stay and Scam held off Northern California Yearling Sale graduate Chancery Way to win Sunday’s $100,000 Irish O’Brien Stakes for Golden State Series-eligible fillies and mares at Santa Anita.
Stay and Scam is by Square Eddie, out of the Momentum mare Puff Pastry, was bred by owner Reddam Racing and is trained by Doug O’Neill. She has five wins in 10 starts, earnings of $290,760 and was coming off a Feb. 10 optional claiming win.
“She ran great,” jockey Mario Gutierrez said. “She broke out of there good and I was going to go to the lead but I wasn’t going to push her either. When the other horse (Chancery Way) took the lead, I settled behind her pretty nicely. was just waiting to make my move. When I asked her to go, she went.”
She has found her top form since switching to turf in the fall, particularly over Santa Anita’s unique hillside layout. Stay and Scam entered off a second-level allowance win sprinting down the hill Feb. 10. That followed a near-miss in the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf Sprint, also on the hillside turf course, in January.
In the Sunshine Millions effort, Stay and Scam finished third by a head behind winner Rose Maddox and the aforementioned Chancery Way in second. Rose Maddox also returned in the Irish O’Brien and disappointed with a last-place finish as the 5-2 second choice.
O’Neill from the Winner’s Circle said Stay and Scam could try to stretch out to a mile in her next start. It would be her first time racing around two turns.
“If she is right and doing well, I wouldn’t be surprised if we tried her at a mile,” O’Neill said.
Fractions for the race were 22.48, 44.56 and 1:06.01.
Stay and Scam ran the about 6 1/2 furlongs down the hillside turf course in 1:12.66 and won by a neck at odds of 6-5. Chismosa was third in the field of seven.