OAKLAWN: MIA MISCHIEF DOMINATES PURPLE MARTIN

Posted On 25 Mar 2018

By Jennifer Hoyt —-

Mia Mischief; Oaklawn/Coady Photography

HOT SPRINGS, AR (Friday, March 23, 2018) – William and Corinne Heiligbrodt’s Mia Mischief did not disappoint as the heavy favorite, drawing off to win Saturday’s $150,000 Purple Martin Stakes by 8 ¼ lengths before a crowd of 20,500.

With leading rider Ricardo Santana in the irons, Mia Mischief broke sharply and settled into fourth as Salt Bae led the field through early fractions of :21.46 and 45.16 for the first half mile. The filly made her move at the three-eighths pole and drew off convincingly to win the six-furlong race in 1:09.65 for six furlongs over a fast track. Salt Bae held on for second, while Criminal Mischief came from last of eight to get third.

Mia Mischief, a 3-year-old Into Mischief filly trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, improved her record to 3-3-0 in six starts and has now earned $220,800. She returned $3.20, $2.40 and $2.10.

Live racing resumes Sunday with a 1:30 p.m. first post.

Stakes Quotes:

Winning Assistant Trainer Darren Fleming (Mia Mischief) – “She acted great the whole time. We had actually washed her off in the paddock because it was so hot outside, so that’s why she appeared to be hot. I thought she relaxed nice off the pace. I’m sure everybody expected us to be the pace, but Ricardo (Santana) changed it around and she relaxed nice behind them and came and got them.”

Winning Jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. (Mia Mischief) – “She was a little tired last time. We have a lot of confidence in her. I knew she was going to be pretty fit for this race. Today, she fit unbelievable and we had a perfect trip. We turned for home and she came home pretty good. She was much the best today.”

Jockey David Cabrera (Salt Bae, second) – “I see this filly, she looks like she likes to run in the lead. We had a good break even though she was having a hard time getting ahold of the ground the first turn. When I turned for home I thought Santana really had to work to pass me but, he passed me like nothing. I thought I had a lot of horse underneath me and I guess he had way more than what I did.”