Super Freaky Pops Providencia Surprise

Stalking Super Freaky surged to the lead leaving the eighth pole and dug in gamely under jockey Jon Court for her first graded stakes victory in the $112,600 Providencia Stakes (gr. IIIT) for 3-year-old fillies on the Santa Anita grass Saturday.

Trained by Doug O'Neill, Super Freaky, a Florida-bred daughter of Smart Strike, made it back-to-back stakes wins on the Santa Anita sod. She won the La Habra on the downhill turf course March 4, also with Court in the saddle. Saturday, she stretched out to a mile and notched her third win in four starts on the Arcadia track's turf at odds of nearly 9-1.

“She was training great, but again, so often they train good and you don’t see it in the afternoon," O'Neill said, "But since we’ve taken the blinkers off this filly, Jon’s really done a great job in getting her to relax. She beat a decent field today.”

Super Freaky  raced in third on the inside as Mystic Soul took them along at a decent clip (:23 1/5, :47 1/5 and 1:11 2/5) before Court angled her out near the quarter pole. Hitting the stretch three wide, she passed Passified, ridden by Mike, and dueled with that one to the wire while prevailing under urging by three-quarters of a length. It was another three parts of a length to third-place finisher Gotta Have Her. The final time was 1:35 2/5 on firm going.

"Our initial strategy was just to get in the stalking position and take it when we turned for home. That’s exactly how it played out, so I’m just really happy," Court said. "She was more than willing to stay wherever I wanted to put her, and I just wanted to keep her forwardly placed and keep an eye on the speed and keep paying attention to how many lengths I wanted to stay from the front. I wanted to keep her comfortable and keep her happy. We took it to them when we turned for home.”

Irish-bred Valbenny, the 5-2 favorite in the field of 11, raced far back for most of the journey before rallying mildly for a sixth-place finish.

Suarez Racing and Alex A. Venneri own Super Freaky, who earned $67,560 for her third win in eight lifetime starts. She has banked $202,200 while three of five on the grass.

Starlight Stable bred Super Freaky, who is out of Elrose, by Deputy Minister, and sold for $140,000 as a yearling at Keeneland.

Super Freaky paid $19.80, $9.60 and $6.60, combining with The English-bred Passified, who returned $10.80 and $7.20 as a 10-1 shot and rounded out a $135.60 exacta. The $1 trifecta with 7-1 shot Gotta Have Her ($6.60), ridden by Richard Migliore, was $399.

Courtwood was 1 1/4 lengths behind in fourth, followed by Macadamia, Valbenny, Silver Swallow, Mystic Soul, Ashley's Kitty, Princess Iris and Slew o' Platinum.

(Chart, Equibase)