By Jessica Martini
Rockingham Ranch's Surrender Now (Morning Line), who gave her freshman sire his first stakes winner with an effortless eight-length score in Sunday's Landaluce S. (video), will make her next start in the Aug. 5 GII Sorrento S. at Del Mar, trainer Peter Miller confirmed Monday.
“She ran great,” Miller commented. “She won easy and did everything very professionally. She came out of the race in good shape, so it looks like we're on to the Sorrento.”
Surrender Now is perfect in two career starts after scoring a two-length victory in her five-furlong debut at Santa Anita June 9. She was never threatened in the Landaluce and came home under a strangle hold.
“You never expect a horse to win by eight lengths, but I thought she'd be tough,” Miller said of the Landaluce win. “I felt pretty confident she'd win.”
Miller picked Surrender Now out of the Barretts March Sale this spring, paying $220,000 for the filly on behalf of Gary Hartunian's Rockingham Ranch.
“She had a terrific breeze and a great way of moving,” Miller said of the juvenile, who worked a furlong in :10 flat prior to the Barretts sale. “She is a good-looking filly and very correct. So she checked all the boxes that we were looking for at these 2-year-old sales.”
The Barretts March sale had its second stakes winner in two days when Surrender Now's Landaluce victory was followed up by Run Away (Run Away and Hide)'s score in Monday's Santa Anita Juvenile S. Run Away was a $325,000 purchase by Kaleem Shah.
Surrender Now's victory followed another impressive performance by a 2-year-old filly at Santa Anita Sunday. Diamondsandpearls (Congrats), who topped the OBS March sale on a bid of $1.7 million, was tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' when she powered home a seven-length winner for the Bob Baffert barn. That filly completed five furlongs in :58.03 and earned a 70 Beyer figure. Three races later, Surrender Now went five furlongs in :57.66 before completing the 5 1/2-furlong Landaluce in 1:03.84 and earning a 79 Beyer.
Of comparisons between the two promising juveniles, Miller said, “We ran a couple of ticks faster and I think nine Beyer points faster, but that doesn't mean anything. It was her first race and it was my second race. You don't know. These horses develop at different rates. I think they are obviously two very talented fillies and we'll know more after the Sorrento.”
Miller also saddled his veteran graded stakes winner Calculator (In Summation) out to a win in an optional claimer down the Santa Anita turf course Monday.
“I'll get with [owner] Mr. [Richard] Pell and we'll talk about it, but we'll probably keep him on the grass for the foreseeable future,” Miller said of the classy gray 5-year-old.
Miller enters Tuesday's closing day of Santa Anita's spring meet with a commanding lead in the trainer's title. The 50-year-old conditioner will be earning his second spring title and eighth overall Southern California title.
“It means a lot to win a training title at Santa Anita,” Miller said. “It's very special. It takes a team and we've got a great team and we have some great owners. Everything has just been falling into place. We are just going to try and carry it through to Del Mar.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
