Blind Luck rallies at Santa Anita

Rallying from last place, the odds-on favorite Blind Luck was able to stick her nose in front at the finish to win Saturday’s Grade I, $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes over hard-luck loser Evening Jewel on a cloudless, picturesque day at Santa Anita.

“One centimeter is good for me,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said of his 3-year-old filly, who was runner-up for the 2009 Eclipse Award for juvenile fillies.

It was an impressive victory in a field of five as Blind Luck fell behind by ninth lengths.

“There wasn’t much speed, so it was hard to come from off the pace,” jockey Rafael Bejarano said. “She’s got a big turn of foot, though, and as soon as we crossed the wire, I knew we had won it.”

Jim Cassidy, the trainer of Evening Jewel, said, “That’s as tough as it gets.”

It was the third Grade I victory for Blind Luck in her seven-race career.

One week after rain and poor track conditions forced the Las Virgenes and two other stakes to be canceled, Santa Anita couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day for racing.

The Grade II $150,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds produced a new standout in the California-bred gelding Caracortado, who improved to five for five in his career with a 1 3/4 -length victory over Dave In Dixie in the 1 1/16-mile race. American Lion was third.

Ridden by Paul Atkinson and trained by Michael Machowsky, Caracortado broke his maiden in a $40,000 claiming race at Fairplex last year. His sire, Cat Dreams, has a $1,500 stud fee. But Caracortado won in 1:41.75 and stayed on a path to possibly run in the Kentucky Derby.

“I read what everybody writes about him, that he’s kind of off-bred, not a blueblood, but he’s honest,” Machowsky said. “You can’t knock that.”

In the 1 1/16 -mile Grade II $250,000 Santa Maria Handicap, St Trinians won her fourth consecutive race since coming from England, beating Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic winner Life Is Sweet by 1 3/4 lengths under jockey Joel Rosario. A race against unbeaten Zenyatta could be next.

In the 1 1/8 -mile Grade II $200,000 Strub Stakes, 11-1 longshot Jeranimo defeated favorite Misremembered by 1 1/4 lengths under jockey Martin Garcia. If the Strub had been run last weekend, Jeranimo wouldn’t had run. But the one-week delay created an opportunity, and the 4-year-old son of Congaree rallied between horses to score the upset.

eric.sondheimer

@latimes.com