Win Is a Real Adventure
The Halfbridled-A.P. Adventure matchup didn’t happen in Sunday’s $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita, but the two undefeated fillies could hook up in the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks on March 13.
“Who knows what will happen?” trainer Wally Dollase said after his A.P. Adventure won the Las Virgenes by a half-length over Hollywood Story. “You never know until you try. They’re a couple of impeccably-bred fillies, and it should be a lot of fun.”
Dollase thought A.P. Adventure would have had a good chance to beat Halfbridled, last year’s champion 2-year-old filly, in Sunday’s race at a mile.
The Oaks will be a sixteenth of a mile farther, the same distance that Halfbridled ran in winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita.
Halfbridled, who hasn’t run this year -- a cough interfered with her training a few weeks ago -- has won all four of her starts. A.P. Adventure’s late run in the Las Virgenes was good for win No. 3 and her second at the meet. Halfbridled is a daughter of Unbridled, a Kentucky Derby winner, and A.P. Adventure’s sire is A.P. Indy, a horse-of-the-year champion.
A.P. Adventure, hitting the wire in 1:36 2/5 after splitting horses in the stretch, paid $4.20 and earned $150,000 for her owners, Bob and Beverly Lewis, who bought the filly at auction last year for $425,000.
Alex Solis, who rides A.P. Adventure, also won Saturday’s La Canada with Cat Fighter. A.P. Adventure, Solis said, “is a laid-back filly. She’s still got so much to learn -- that’s what’s scary about her.”
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Second Of June, second to Read The Footnotes in Saturday’s Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, underwent surgery Sunday for a fractured cannon bone. Second Of June will miss the Kentucky Derby and the rest of the Triple Crown and is expected to resume racing at the end of the year.... Gradepoint, a son of A.P. Indy, beat Mr. Jester by a half-length to win the $150,000 Risen Star Stakes at the Fair Grounds.... Azeri had her second workout for trainer Wayne Lukas, going four furlongs in :48 3/5.... Southern Image, a probable for the Santa Anita Handicap on March 6, had a six-furlong workout in 1:11 2/5.... Minister Eric’s first start as a 3-year-old may be on grass in the Baldwin on Feb. 28.... Julie Krone, who has ridden in only three races -- all last Wednesday -- since returning from a spill at Hollywood Park on Dec. 12, may not ride again until the end of the month.... In other stakes at Santa Anita, the French import Tsigane won his first race in the U.S., beating Glick by a half-length in the Daytona Handicap, and Super High beat six other California-breds in the Pro or Con Handicap.