13 Ene. USA. Santa Ynez S. G2. Santa Anita Park. 7f. AW. 150.000 $
1.- INDIAN BLESSING (G.Gomez)
2.- GOLDEN DOC A (R.Bejarano)
3.- PEISINOE (A.Solis)


Earnhardt's homebred INDIAN BLESSING (Indian Charlie) took the lead soon after the start of Sunday's $150,000 Santa Ynez S. (G2) and just took the win by a diminishing head for trainer Bob Baffert. The sophomore miss, who is favored to be named champion juvenile filly at the upcoming Eclipse Awards ceremony on January 21, completed her three-year-old bow in a track-record 1:19 4/5 for seven furlongs on Santa Anita's Cushion Track.

"It was supposed to be an easy out, but those are the hardest ones to win," said Baffert, who was celebrating his 55th birthday. "She ran her heart out today. She just digs in, she just keeps winning. I don't know what I'm going to do with her (next race). She ran pretty hard today, so I'll let her dictate where she wants to run next, but we're not in a hurry with her."

Jockey Garrett Gomez, who could pick up an Eclipse of his own, settled Indian Blessing just off the rail through splits of :22 1/5 and :43 3/5. Peisinoe (Yes It's True) pressed the pace just to her outside, but began backing up entering the stretch as Indian Blessing pulled away to be three lengths clear through six furlongs in 1:07. However, the stretch run still had to be traversed, and Golden Doc A (Unusual Heat) was just game enough to make a race of it late.

The Barry Abrams-trained Golden Doc A rallied late under Rafael Bejarano, making up ground on her tiring rival. The wire came just in time for Indian Blessing, who paid $2.20, $2.10 and $2.10 as the 1-9 favorite.

"She was a little fresh today," Gomez explained. "Alex (Solis aboard Peisinoe) put quite a bit more pressure on us than I expected, and I wasn't able to get her to settle like I wanted. I knew with the pressure we got, somebody might be coming at us and at the sixteenth-pole, I could feel that filly (Golden Doc A) coming. At that point I had to get after her a little bit. She's a very honest filly."