Coffee in Bed just got her neck in front of pacesetting Super Shine on the line to earn the first graded victory of her career in the GII Santa Maria S. at Santa Anita Sunday evening. The dark bay filly settled off the pace while shadowing favorite Desert Dawn as a four-way battle for the lead developed around the first turn. Super Shine asserted control into the backstretch as the quarter went up in :22.66. Desert Dawn and Coffee in Bed moved in tandem, four and five wide, to loom a threat heading into the far turn as the half was completed in :46.64. Super Shine was still in front at the top of the lane as Desert Dawn and Coffee in Bed rolled up to her outside. The gutsy pacesetter kept finding more down the lane and the favorite was first to blink, but Coffee in Bed dug in gamely to grab the lead in the final jump.
Coffee in Bed just got her neck in front of pacesetting Super Shine on the line to earn the first graded victory of her career in the GII Santa Maria S. at Santa Anita Sunday evening. The dark bay filly settled off the pace while shadowing favorite Desert Dawn as a four-way battle for the lead developed around the first turn. Super Shine asserted control into the backstretch as the quarter went up in :22.66. Desert Dawn and Coffee in Bed moved in tandem, four and five wide, to loom a threat heading into the far turn as the half was completed in :46.64. Super Shine was still in front at the top of the lane as Desert Dawn and Coffee in Bed rolled up to her outside. The gutsy pacesetter kept finding more down the lane and the favorite was first to blink, but Coffee in Bed dug in gamely to grab the lead in the final jump.
“Although we settled back a little, and were hung out a little wide, she seemed to be happy there,” winning rider Mike Smith said. “She was at a really nice, happy cruising speed. I said, 'I'll stay out of the way and let her do what she does best.' And she showed up today.”
Frankie Dettori was pleased with the effort of the runner-up, a multiple group winner in her native Argentina who was making her U.S. debut for trainer Phil D'Amato.
“She jumped good, nobody was faster than me, so I had to go,” Dettori said. “[Coffee in Bed] always had me. The last sixteenth, she really poured it out for me. It was her first time here. I couldn't ask for more. She ran great.”
Coffee in Bed, a first-out winner at Santa Anita in January 2023, added an optional-claiming victory four starts later going one mile in Arcadia in October. She concluded her sophomore campaign with a fifth-place effort over the lawn in the Nov. 5 GIII Autumn Miss S. The bay filly resurfaced in 2024 to come up a length short of Desert Dawn when second in the 1 1/16-mile GIII La Canada S. Jan. 20 and was most recently a well-beaten sixth in the GI Beholder Mile Mar. 9.
Pedigree Notes:
Coffee in Bed is the 105 worldwide stakes winner and 57 graded winner for Curlin. Curlin's son Gladiator King is his only other graded winner out of a Hennessy mare.
Sumptuous, the first foal out of graded winner Belle of Perintown and a half-sister to graded winner Strike it Rich (Unbridled's Song), sold in foal to Good Magic to Tim Thorton for $85,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November sale. She has a 2-year-old filly by Liam's Map–who sold for $100,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale–and a yearling filly by Good Magic. She was bred to Maclean's Music last year.
Breeder Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings purchased the mare, in foal to Quality Road, for $410,000 from the Ned Evans dispersal at the 2011 Keeneland November sale. Her first foal was graded-winner and Grade I-placed Great Stuff (Quality Road).
Sunday, Santa Anita
SANTA MARIA S.-GII, $201,000, Santa Anita, 4-21, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:45.16, ft.
1–COFFEE IN BED, 120, f, 4, by Curlin
1st Dam: Sumptuous (MSP, $105,245), by Hennessy
2nd Dam: Belle of Perintown, by Dehere
3rd Dam: Hot Match, by Mr. Prospector
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($500,000
Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Spendthrift Farm LLC; B-Stonestreet
Thoroughbred Holdings (KY); T-Richard Mandella; J-M Smith.
$120,000. Lifetime Record: 9-3-2-1, $253,860. *1/2 to Great
Stuff (Quality Road), GSW & GISP, $478,902. Werk Nick
Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Super Shine (Arg), 120, m, 5, Super Saver–Sunshine Allie, by
Southern Halo. O-R Unicorn Stable; B-Firmamento (ARG);
T-Philip D'Amato. $40,000.
3–Desert Dawn, 122, m, 5, Cupid–Ashley's Glory, by Honour
and Glory. ($32,000 RNA Ylg '20 OBSOCT). O/B-H & E Ranch
(AZ); T-Philip D'Amato. $24,000.
Margins: NK, HF, 4. Odds: 4.20, 3.80, 0.60.
Also Ran: Blue Dream Machine, Turnerloose, Princess Bettina, Liberal Lady. Scratched: Big Novel. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
COFFEE IN BED ($10.40) kept digging under urging by @mikeesmith10, found more late, and just beat Super Shine (ARG) at the wire in the $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes (G2). Richard Mandella trained the 4-year-old filly for @spendthriftfarm.
Bet the last: https://t.co/cROASzQAe9 pic.twitter.com/zBsNOGtzTA
— TVG (@TVG) April 22, 2024
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
