Brilliantly Tabbed As Favorite In Saturday’s Grade III La Canada Stakes At 1 /16 Miles

By Victor Ryan —-

BRILLIANTLY TABBED AS FAVORITE IN SATURDAY’S GRADE III LA CANADA STAKES AT 1 /16 MILES; STAKES WINNERS HEY NAY NAY, LATER THAN PLANNED RETURN IN SUNDAY’S BAFFLE STAKES FOR 3-YEAR-OLDS ON THE HILLSIDE TURF COURSE AT SANTA ANITA

ARCADIA, CA (Jan. 20, 2026)—After testing the Grade I La Brea going seven furlongs on opening day of the Santa Anita Classic Meet, Brilliantly and So There She Was will get class relief and stretch out to 1 1/16 miles in Saturday’s Grade III, $100,000 La Canada Stakes for older fillies and mares at Santa Anita. On Sunday, 3-year-olds will meet led by stakes winners Hey Nay Nay and Later Than Planned in the $100,000 Baffle Stakes on the hillside turf course.

In the La Brea Dec. 28, Brilliantly raced in mid-pack down the backstretch, ranged up to the leaders on the turn with an outside move but then weakened in the stretch to finish fourth by 8 ¾ lengths behind winning stablemate Usha. Both are trained by Bob Baffert.

Brilliantly’s only time racing around two turns came on turf when breaking her maiden in her second start in March. Owned by Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, the 4-year-old filly by Uncle Mo is 4: 1-1-1 with $76,320 in earnings. Brilliantly will also be re-adding blinkers, which she wore for her first two starts. Jockey Juan Hernandez will ride.

So There She Was, trained by Doug O’Neill, broke slowly in the La Brea and was last down the backstretch. She then passed horses on the turn before flattening out in the stretch to finish sixth in a field of 10. Last year, So There She Was—a 4-year-old filly by Munnings—won the Remington Park Oaks at 1 1/16 miles, was third in the GIII Torrey Pines going a mile and fourth in the GII Mother Goose at Aqueduct going 1 1/8 miles.

So There She Was enters with a record of 9: 2-3-1 and $301,120 in earnings for owners Mark D. Davi, Great Friends Stables and Tropical Racing. She’ll be ridden for the first time by Emisael Jaramillo.

First post Saturday at Santa Anita is 12:30 p.m. PT for a nine-race card. The La Canada goes as the eighth race at 4:04 p.m. The field in post position order: Ooty, Tiago Pereira (8-1); Fugitive Star, Hector Berrios (12-1); So There She Was, Emisael Jaramillo (9-5); Brilliantly, Juan Hernandez (7-5); Nafisa, Kazushi Kimura (5-1); Jane Austen, Abel Lezcano (6-1).

The Baffle Stakes on Sunday headlines a nine-card card starting at 12:30 p.m. Stakes winner Hey Nay Nay and Later Than Planned followed up their stakes wins last year with efforts in the Breeders’ Cup.

Hey Nay Nay, trained by John Sadler, won both the Tryo Stakes going five furlongs on turf at Monmouth Park and the GIII Del Mar Juvenile Turf going a mile. In the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at one mile, Hey Nay Nay led after six furlongs but then weakened to finish tenth. The Irish-bred colt by No Nay Never then returned to finish third as the 1-2 favorite in the GIII Cecil B. DeMille at a mile on turf at Del Mar in his most recent start on Nov 30.

Owned by Hronis Racing and Iapetus Racing LLC, Hey Nay Nay is 5: 3-0-1 with $178,000 in earnings. He’ll have Hector Berrios aboard.

Later Than Planned, trained by Phil D’Amato, won the Speakeasy Stakes going five furlongs on turf at Santa Anita in October. He then tried the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, also at five furlongs at Del Mar. He was last of 12 after the opening three furlongs and then rallied in the stretch to split the field in sixth.

Bred in Ireland, where he made one start before coming stateside, Later Than Planned is owned by Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables and Marsha Naify. He has a record of 5: 2-0-1 with $133,858 in earnings. He’ll have regular rider Umberto Rispoli aboard.

The Baffle Stakes goes as the seventh race at approximately 3:30 p.m. The field in post position order: Won For Lou, Edwin Maldonado; Greenwich Village, Juan Hernandez; Hey Nay Nay, Hector Berrios; Cal’s Goal, Armando Ayuso; Track Tiger, Emisael Jaramillo; Bust Out, Kazushi Kimura; Later Than Planned, Umberto Rispoli.

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