A desperate final surge from Canadian/Ontario-bred mare MISSION OF JOY in Saturday’s Grade 2 $200,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita resulted in her first graded stakes win and a spot in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
With jockey Umberto Rispoli aboard, Mission of Joy (11-1) came storming down the middle of the stretch and in the final stride surged past eastern invader Speed Shopper (14-1) to win by a head at the Arcadia, California track. A five-year-old mare by Kitten’s Joy, Mission of Joy was bred in Milton, ON by Sam-Son Farm and is trained by Phil D’Amato and owned by RyZan Sun Racing and Madaket Stables.
“I had a really good trip,” Rispoli said. “She settled right where I wanted, and once I took her outside, she showed an incredible turn of foot. She prefers to come around horses instead of going through small gaps, and she responded beautifully today. I hadn’t worked with her before this race, but she gave me all the confidence out there.”
Speed Shopper, ridden by Kazushi Kimura for trainer Will Walden, finished a half-length in front of Starry Heavens (7-2) in third.
The winning time for Mission of Joy on firm turf for 1 1/4 miles was 2:00.03 following fractions of :23.63, :48.44, 1:13.04 and 1:37.36.
Trainer D’Amato has had Mission of Joy since August after the mare was sixth in Woodbine’s Grade 2 Nassau Stakes. Mission of Joy had been a good juvenile and three-year-old for trainer Graham Motion, winning the Grade 3 Mrs. Revere Stakes in 2023, but it had been more than a dozen races since she had won a stakes race coming into the Rodeo Drive.
“I think she definitely needs to be rid of that European style, just kind of getting covered up. Just timing the run just right and getting her to the outside. I thought Umberto did a fantastic job of getting that achieved today. “She just has one style and that usually gets her the best outcome, to kind of sit back and come with a run. Whether it works out or not, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t, but today it did. I think also, she came from back east and the owner said that every time they ran her on a firm turf course she ran a better race. We get plenty of that in California and that has helped her out as well.”
Originally a $32,000 yearling purchase from the 2021 Fasig-Tipton October sale by Ryan Zabrowski of RyzanSun, Mission of Joy is one of the last Sam-Son bred horses still racing. She is from the Smart Strike mare Smart Mission, who was undefeated in two races, and is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Irish Mission, French Beret and stakes winner Mythical Mission.
Smart Mission has five other named foals and three winners.
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