Fashionably Fast Heads Sunday’s Santana Mile

ARCADIA, CA – An ultra-game 1-mile stakes winner versus state-breds in his most recent start, Harris Farms homebred Fashionably Fast steps into open company as he heads a field of six older horses in Sunday’s $75,000 Santana Mile at Santa Anita.

Fashionably Fast, a 6-year-old gelding by Lucky Pulpit, will be making his third start off of a 1/2-month layoff and appears to be back to his best for trainer Dean Pederson. A head victor of the 1-mile Tiznow Stakes on February 28, Fashionably Fast is a 5-time stakes winner that has 2 wins and a second-place finish from 3 tries at 1 mile.

Owned by Harris Farms, Inc., Per Antonsen and John Nicoletti, Fashionably Fast is out of the Forestry mare Fall Fashion. With regular rider Tiago Pereira back aboard, Fashionably Fast will likely stalk what shapes up as a lively pace. With an overall mark of 20-8-4-3, Fashionably Fast has earnings of $568,245.

Hal and Patti Earnhardt’s homebred Ax Man, a 6-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Misremembered, will be ridden for the first time by Edwin Maldonado and will most likely be sent to the front in aggressive fashion.

Trained by Bob Baffert and favored in 10 out of his 15 starts, Ax Man resurfaced as the 3/1 favorite off of a 6-month layoff to run fourth, beaten 6 1/4 lengths going 6 furlongs in the Palos Verdes Stakes (G3) on January 23 and will no doubt show plenty of zip stretching out to a distance at which he’s unbeaten in 2 starts.

Baffert will also be very well represented by the streaking Mastering, who has won 3 consecutive starts at the meet and will be making his stakes debut with Juan Hernandez up. Mastering, who has a stalking style, would be flattered by a fast pace. An impressive 1/2-length second condition allowance winner going 1 1/16 miles on March 6, Mastering earned a solid 91 Beyer Speed figure in what was his fifth career start.

Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, Mastering, a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred colt by Street Sense out of the Pulpit mare Shimmer, was ridden to victory by Hernandez in a 1-mile allowance 2 starts back on January 18 and appears poised to bring his best on Sunday.

Trainer Val Brinkerhoff’s highly-accomplished Restrainedvengence will be making his second start off of a 5-month layoff and could run much better with a recent race under his belt. Sixth, beaten 4 1/2 lengths at odds of 6/1 in a 1-mile turf classified allowance March 7, this 6-year-old gelding by Hold Me Back is a 6-time stakes winner with solid credentials on turf, dirt, and synthetic.

A winner of a $200,000 stakes going a mile and 1/8 3 starts back on September 19 at Albuquerque Downs with Ruben Fuentes, he’ll be ridden by Tyler Baze, who last rode him 9 races back in November 2019 as he registered a gate-to-wire win in a $150,000 stakes at Zia Park going 1 1/8 miles. 

The leading money earner in the Santana field with $626,222, Restrainedvengence, who is 27-8-3-1 overall, is owned by Kelly Brinkerhoff and Bobby Grayson, Jr.

With leading rider Flavien Prat named to ride, Growth Engine is an interesting commodity who will be making his Southern California debut in what will be his first start for John Sadler. Favored in 4 out of his 7 starts for Chad Brown, Growth Engine has been idle since taking a 1-mile and 70-yard allowance by a nose at Monmouth Park on September 19.

A 5-year-old gelding by Tapit, Growth Engine is owned by Klaravich Stables, Inc. and will be making his stakes debut with an overall mark of 7-3-3-1 while racing at Monmouth, Saratoga, and Gulfstream Park.

Major Cabbie, with Abel Cedillo aboard the Peter Miller-trained 6-year-old Louisiana-bred by Into Mischief, rounds out the field. Owned by Sareen Family Trust, he was most recently fourth in the Palos Verdes and carries a lifetime mark of 18-4-0-3 with $206,671 earned.