Santa Anita Oaks; Fashion Plate Beats out Ria Antonia

Fashion Plate Beats out Ria Antonia for the win at the 2014 Santa Anita Oaks: Fashion Plate won the Grade 1 1/16 mile 2014 Santa Anita Oaks at Santa Anita Park on Saturday, April 5, 2014. Fashion Plate was ridden by jockey Gary Stevens and is trained by Simon Callaghan. Fashion Plate was the 2-1 second choice coming into the race with seven fillies. Fashion Plate takes home the $400,000 purse and posted a time 1:42.97 with a victory of 1 ¼ lengths over second place Ria Antonia. It looks like Fashion Plate will be competing in the upcoming Kentucky Oaks.

Trainer Callaghan said, “I think for now, it (Kentucky Oaks) would make sense…She’s getting better almost as we stretch out in distance. She’s a really smart filly and she relaxes well.”

Jockey Stevens said, “I’ve won a few races like this in my day…She was reminding me of Winning Colors going down the backside. I thought if I can keep doing this…it’s going to be pretty special. Mike (Smith’s) filly (Ria Antonia) is a good filly. I’ve worked her a couple of times so I knew what I was dealing with. I think we were underestimated in here though, off her numbers last out. We knew that she was going to improve a lot today.”

People were unsure of Fashion Plate coming into the Santa Anita Oaks. There was concern about how Fashion Plate would handle the distance of the race after getting tired in the Las Virgenes in February. But it seems that Fashion Plate has recovered just fine; we will have to wait and see how Fashion Plate runs in the Kentucky Oaks.

Santa Anita Oaks 2014 Results and Payouts
1 Fashion Plate and Gary L. Stevens $6.20 to Win/$3.40 to Place/$2.80 to Show
3 Ria Antonia and Mike E. Smith $2.80 to Place/$2.40 to Show
7 Bajan and Joseph Talamo $6.20 to Show
Also ran: 4 – Honey Ride , 5 – Arethusa , 6 – Artemis , 8 – Smoove It

2014 Santa Anita Oaks Replay: