Ariege rallies to win Santa Anita Oaks

Trainer Bobby Frankel didn’t need to run the best 3-year-old filly in his stable to win the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks on Saturday in Arcadia.

With Country Star gearing up for her 2008 debut in the $500,000 Ashland Stakes on April 5 at Keeneland, Frankel got the money in the Grade I with 9-2 third choice Ariege.

In her first start on a surface other than turf, the daughter of Doneraile Court rallied under Corey Nakatani to defeat 3-2 favorite Golden Doc A by half a length in 1:42.73 for the 1 1/16 miles. The victory was the first in three U.S. races for Ariege, who is owned by Richard Schiavo and Michael Iavarone’s IEAH Stables and James Tagliaferri’s Pegasus Holding Group Stables.

“We wanted to try her on the synthetic because the track is favoring her style and grass horses are running well on it,” Frankel said. “I just told Corey to let her settle and make one run.”

Looking for her second Grade I win in a row after taking the Las Virgenes on Feb. 9, Golden Doc A finished a little more than three lengths in front of Final Fling, who faltered after seizing a clear lead early in the stretch.

“She ran great,” said Barry Abrams, Golden Doc A’s trainer. “Any time you can go five wide and come the last quarter like she did with those fractions, you have to be proud of her.”

Apparently, Abrams failed to notice that Ariege also rallied wide and that is the preferred style these days at Santa Anita.

Two races before the Oaks, Monzante, the 8-5 second choice, blew past favored Neko Bay late to win the $101,750 Santana Mile.

Pyro is now two for two as a 3-year-old after a three-length victory as the 4-5 favorite in the $600,000 Louisiana Derby in New Orleans.

Shaun Bridgmohan rode the Pulpit colt for trainer Steve Asmussen. My Pal Charlie, the third-longest shot at nearly 61-1, was second, half a length in front of California shipper Yankee Bravo.

Jockey Garrett Gomez won two of the four stakes races before the Louisiana Derby, taking the $500,000 New Orleans Handicap with Circular Quay at 6-1 and the $500,000 Mervin Muniz Jr. Memorial with 7-2 shot Proudinsky.

Gomez had to settle for second with Indian Blessing, who suffered her first loss in six career starts when run down by Proud Spell in the final eighth of a mile in the $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks.

Visionaire, who had finished third behind Pyro in the Risen Star, was up in the final strides to defeat Texas Wildcatter and win the $250,000 Gotham over a sloppy track at rainy and extremely foggy Aqueduct.

In another race for 3-year-olds, Autism Awareness, a 62-1 shot who was purchased for $1,000 as a yearling, shocked Nikki’sgoldensteed and seven others in the $150,000 El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows.

Nashoba’s Key, a loser of her last two starts after winning her first seven, will reunite with Gomez in the $300,000 Santa Margarita Handicap today at Santa Anita.

Gomez, the nation’s leading rider in terms of earnings this year, was aboard for the first three victories of her career.

The two main threats to the California-bred in the Grade I at 1 1/8 miles are the undefeated Zenyatta and Santa Maria Handicap winner Double Trouble.

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bob.mieszerski@latimes.com