Mr. and Mrs. Martin Wygod’s homebred PROPOSED (Benchmark) moved to the fore
turning into the stretch and cruised home an impressive 2 1/2-length winner of the
$150,000
El Encino S. (G2) at Santa Anita on Sunday. Trained by John Shirreffs,
the four-year-old lass rated patiently while three-wide behind moderate splits
of :23, :47 2/5 and 1:12 1/5 for the opening six furlongs. After being asked by
jockey Pat Valenzuela on the turn, the filly quickly spurted clear and held
second choice Play Ballado (Saint Ballado) at bay while never being seriously
challenged. The final time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:44 1/5, and the 9-5 favorite
gave back $5.60, $3 and $2.40 en route to her first graded score.
Play Ballado sat in midpack early and closed admirably to garner the place,
paying $3.80 and $2.60 while completing the $8.50 exacta ($1) at 5-2. Pacesetter Somethinaboutlaura (Dance Floor) stayed on well to hold down the show spot
another two lengths back, returning $3 at 9-1 while concluding the $45 trifecta
($1) (4-7-1). Skipping Court (Doneraile Court), the longest price on the board, was next
and followed by Shimmer (Pulpit), Cream Donut Keith (Lion Hearted) and Three
Degrees (Ire) (Singspiel [Ire]).
Proposed upped her mark to 9-5-1-2 with earnings of $277,200. The dark bay miss
previously placed in both the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association S.
and California Cup Matron H.
The Golden State-bred winner is out of the unraced Quiet Romance (Bertrando)
and is a full-sister to the 2004 Santa Anita Oaks (G1) heroine, Silent Sighs.
Proposed also has a pair of unraced full siblings, a three-year-old filly named
Winter Romance and an unnamed two-year-old colt.
Benchmark, the sire of Proposed, caps off one of his biggest
weekends at stud, as he was also the sire of Saturday’s San Rafael S. (G2) victor,
Brother Derek.