Spellbound Wins La Canada Stakes At Santa Anita

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Spellbound rallied from last, 17 lengths off the pace, to win the $200,000 La Canada Stakes by a neck at Santa Anita on Sunday.

Ridden by Victor Espinoza, Spellbound ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.14 and paid $35, $12.80 and $7.80 at 16-1 odds.

"I knew they were going fast on the front end, but I just wanted to focus on my own filly," Espinoza said. "I wanted her to be happy and I wanted to enjoy the ride. Turning for home, I knew we had a lot of ground to make up and the wire was getting closer and closer."

Let Faith Arise returned $11.80 and $7.00, while Ondine was another neck back in third and paid $4.60 to show.

Broken Sword, the 6-5 favorite, broke sharply inward leaving the starting gate, interfering with 6-5 second choice Fiftyshadesofhay, a dedicated front-runner trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Mike Smith.

Smith was forced to check sharply out of the gate.

"It cost me the race, but we probably caused our own trouble to be honest with you," he said. "She (Fiftyshadesofhay) needs to stand a little better in there."

Fiftyshadesofhay rallied to finish fourth, while Broken Sword tired badly to finish fifth, beaten by 7½ lengths.

The victory, worth $120,000, increased Spellbound's career earnings to $208,750, with three wins in eight starts.

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