Belvoir Bay Wins G3 San Simeon

ARCADIA, CA –  Belvoir Bay continued to show her dominance on the Santa Anita downhill turf course Sunday when she won the $100,000 San Simeon Stakes. This was the third graded stakes victory for Belvoir Bay and second consecutive victory.

The 7-2 morning line favorite Coniah bobbled at the start giving up the lead to the pair of Mongolian Saturday and Belvoir Bay. Mongolian Saturday could not keep up with the pace set by front-running Belvoir Bay and quickly faded to the back once they hit the top of the stretch. The late-running Isotherm was content to sit at the back of the pack and made a hard push down the stretch but had to settle for third. Coniah picked up the pieces after her early stumble and finished a strong second behind Belvoir Bay who easily cruised past the wire to win.

“When Coniah stumbled, I just kinda let the reins dangle and [Belvoir Bay] took me up inside [Mongolian Saturday] and she was real comfortable,” said Baze. “She’s a nice filly. I found out last time, you can’t take much hold of her, because she’ll throw her head. The way it worked out today, she was free running and when we hit the dirt she was really running.”

With her continued dominance down the hill, it is no surprise that trainer Peter Miller expects to see her on the down-hill turf next time out. When asked about her next appearance, Miller said,”I think we’ll go in the Monrovia next which is at the end of May. It’s a Grade II, $200,000 (for fillies and mares, 3 years old and up, going 6 ½ furlongs down the hillside turf course) and she loves the hill. She’s one of my all-time favorites. She’s not very big, not very wide but she’s got a heart the size of the San Gabriel Mountains.”

Belvoir Bay returned $7.60 to win, $3.00 to place, and $2.10 to show. Coniah brought back $2.80 to place and $2.20 to show, while Isotherm paid $2.40 to show.