ARCADIA, Calif. – Notwithstanding a disappointing comeback in her first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Super Corredora will march on.
Super Corredora finished last of four starters in the Las Virgenes Stakes on Feb. 8 at Santa Anita, but trainer John Sadler has not lost faith in the 2025 champion 2-year-old filly. She returns to the track Thursday morning, even without a clear alibi for her below-par comeback.
“She got real hot going to the gate and just wasn’t herself,” Sadler said Wednesday morning. “Maybe the time off didn’t really suit her. But the good news is she’s fine, and we’ll re-rally.”
The one-mile Las Virgenes was the first start in more than three months for Super Corredora, who dueled outside Explora through a fast 45.98-second half-mile before backing up at the quarter pole. She finished 6 3/4 lengths behind winner Meaning and more than five lengths behind runner-up Explora.
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Super Corredora pulled up fine, and Sadler suspects she might simply have needed the start. If so, she would be following a pattern similar to her 2-year-old campaign. She finished fifth in her career debut and improved each subsequent start. Super Corredora has won 2 of 5 starts.
The immediate fallout from the Las Virgenes is Sadler will reconsider her 3-year-old campaign. He initially planned to skip the next leg of the 3-year-old filly series at Santa Anita, which is the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel on March 8.
“I could tweak [her schedule],” Sadler said Wednesday. “Maybe we come back in March. I talked about not doing that, but maybe we come back in March. It’s too early to tell. We’ll see.”
The Kentucky Oaks remains a goal for Super Corredora if she improves next out. Following the Santa Ysabel in March, the main California prep for the Kentucky Oaks is the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks on April 4. That race is likely to be the next start for Las Virgenes winner Meaning.
The slow time of the Las Virgenes, 1:38.39 with a final quarter-mile in 27.80 seconds, produced a Beyer Speed Figure of 79 for Meaning. That figure is the second-lowest for a Las Virgenes winner since 1990.
As for Super Corredora, she joins a long list of BC Juvenile Fillies winners – 25 of 41 – who lost their next start. Only two Juvenile Fillies winners won the Kentucky Oaks – Open Mind in 1989 and Silverbulletday in 1999. Fran’s Valentine, who was disqualified from victory in the inaugural BC Juvenile Fillies in 1984, won the Kentucky Oaks the following spring.
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