It didn’t last the whole mile, but Warm-up needed about three-quarters of a mile to warm up and find her stride to win the $100,000 Autumn Miss Stakes (G3T) on October 26 Santa Anita Park.
The 1 1/2-length win also served as her first stakes triumph after coming up short in three previous attempts.
A thousand miles a long shot of 95-1, quickly broke the fence and set the pace. She set fractional times of:22.78,:46.63 and 1:11.48. Almost halfway through the race she had built up a three-length lead, while none of her rivals wanted to push her anymore.
Meanwhile, Warming and jockey Juan Hernandez were able to comfortably keep their distance and wait for their chance. When they found it, A Thousand Miles had nothing left.
“She broke a step slow,” Hernandez said. “The plan was to stay close to the pace, but after the gate opened the plans changed. I just went in a bit to save ground. They set a good pace, so that helped me a lot. I just waited for my move. Around the quarter pole the horse dropped in front of me and I saw the opportunity to shoot through. I asked my filly to go in through that gap and she did. She just kept accelerating all the way to the thread.”
The clock stopped at 1:34.44.
Owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and trained by Graham Motion, Warming paid $12.40 for the win. A Thousand Miles came second, and Accurate timing who broke at 71-1, beating another runner with long odds, Wink and a grin (46-1) in a photo for third place.
Video: Autumn Miss S. (G3T)
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