It didn't take the whole mile, but Warming needed about three-quarters of a mile to heat up and find her stride to win the $100,000 Autumn Miss Stakes (G3T) Oct. 26 at Santa Anita Park.
The 1 1/2-length win also served as her first graded stakes triumph after coming up short in three previous attempts.
A Thousand Miles, a 95-1 longshot, broke quickly from the gate and established the pace. She set fractional times of :22.78, :46.63, and 1:11.48. She established a three-length lead nearly halfway through the race with none of her rivals eager to push her yet.
Meanwhile, Warming and jockey Juan Hernandez were comfortable keeping their distance and waiting for their opportunity. 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 plans change. I just went to the inside a little bit to save ground. They put up a good pace so that helped me a lot. I was just kind of waiting to make my move. Around the quarter pole, the horse in front of me dropped out and I saw the opportunity to shoot in between them. I asked my filly to go in through that hole and she did it. She just kept accelerating to the wire."
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 was second, and Precise Timing, who broke at 71-1, edged another long odds runner, Wink and a Grin (46-1) in a photo for third.
