CALIFORNIA-BRED SPICED PERFECTION RALLIES TO WIN GRADE I, $300,000 LA BREA STAKES BY 1 ¼ LENGTHS

By Mike Willman —-

SPICED PERFECTION
Benoit Photo

CALIFORNIA-BRED SPICED PERFECTION RALLIES TO WIN GRADE I, $300,000 LA BREA STAKES BY 1 ¼ LENGTHS AS PRAT & KORINER TEAM FOR SEVEN FURLONG TALLY IN 1:23.54

ARCADIA, Calif. (Dec. 26, 2018)—Unimpeded while four-wide turning for home, Califorina-bred Spiced Perfection proved she belongs in elite company as she powered to a 1 ¼ length win in Wednesday’s Grade I, $300,000 La Brea Stakes. Ridden by Flavien Prat and trained by Brian Koriner, the 3-year-old daughter of Smiling Tiger got seven furlongs in 1:23.54.

Breaking from the far outside in a field of eight, Spiced Perfection sat just behind a four-horse spread that included 3-5 favorite Dream Tree heading to the three furlong pole. As Emboldened, ridden by Joe Talamo, slipped through on the rail around the far turn, Dream Tree fell out of contention a quarter mile out, leaving Hot Autumn, Happy Like a Fool and Emboldened to the winner’s immediate inside at the top of the lane.

A seven furlong Cal-bred stakes winner Nov. 11 at Del Mar, Spiced Perfection, who was facing graded stakes competition for the first time, was off at 5-1 and paid $12.80, $6.20 and $4.00.

Owned by Dare to Dream, LLC, Spiced Perfection notched her sixth win from 14 starts and with the winner’s share of $180,000, increased her earnings to $622,405.

Hot Autumn, ridden by Tyler Baze, completed a Cal-bred exacta, as the daughter of Tiz Wonderful finished a head in front of Emboldened for the place. Off at 33-1, Hot Autumn paid $22.60 and $8.00.

Emboldened, who like favored Dream Tree, is trained by Bob Baffert, finished 1 ¾ lengths in front of Happy Like a Fool and paid $6.40 to show while off at 10-1.

Fractions on the race were 22.68, 45.68 and 1:10.47.

LA BREA STAKES QUOTES
GRADE I, $300,000

FLAVIEN PRAT, SPICED PERFECTION, WINNER: “She ran big. She broke off nice and then I was outside in the clear. She was comfortable the entire way. Around the turn I was going pretty well so I thought I had a shot. As soon as I asked her, she responded well and ran big.
“Brian didn’t say much beforehand. She’s been training well and I thought her last race was really nice so we were confident today. She’s really push-button. I really thought she’d run well today.”

TYLER BAZE, HOT AUTUMN, SECOND: “She’s a nice filly. She tried hard. She gave it her all. I look for bigger and better things with her throughout the year and next year.”
DRAYDEN VAN DYKE, DREAM TREE, 3-5 FAVORITE WHO FINISHED LAST: “I don’t know what happened. She just came up empty.”

TRAINER QUOTES

BRIAN KORINER, SPICED PERFECTION, WINNER: “She really did it on her own. [Flavia Prat] even had to slow her down on the backside because she was running up there. I was just hoping she wasn’t too fresh and get tired late. It was a great move up, to have little pedigree and win a Grade I, I don’t know what that does for her but we’re happy. She’s got over half a million dollars now so that always helps.

This was her las shot against three-year-old fillies, we almost ran at Golden Gate for $75,000 a month ago and it would’ve been smashing everything into her so it was worth a shot here. In the meantime, we got an offer for her for half a million dollars and they were going to let me keep her They made the offer before they ever looked at her and then took back the offer. It was a done deal and they backed out. So it was good to see her win after somebody said ‘no we don’t want her’.”

MIKE TIERNEY, LA TIMES RACING CONTRIBUTOR AND PART OWNER WITH DARE TO DREAM, LLC, OF SPICED PERFECTION, WINNER: “I never dreamed of this! To win a Grade One, with a Cal-bred…This is pretty impressive.”

NOTES: The winning owner is Dare to Dream Stable, LLC.

About Us
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