Baoma Corp.’s Himika (f, 2, Curlin–Motivated Seller, by Into Mischief), a $900,000 purchase out of this year’s OBS April Sale, looked in a bit of trouble through the opening three panels of a five-furlong maiden at Santa Anita Thursday. But when Juan Hernandez was able to push away from the inside and with dead aim on pacesetting Stuffy Mist (Maximus Mischief), the athletic bay gathered that one up with ease a few strides later and whistled home to score by a half-dozen eased-down lengths to become a no-brainer ‘TDN Rising Star’.
Drawn the fence, the firming 1-2 chalk was away neatly enough, but couldn’t quite go with the early gallop and was forced to sit behind and wait for room on the back of the debuting front-runner. With Hernandez looking to his right for anything resembling an exit sign approaching the stretch, the daylight came as heads were turned for home and Himika had soon built up a massive advantage, then was taken in hand for the better part of the last sixteenth of a mile. She stopped the clock in :57.86–a time that could have been significantly faster had Hernandez chosen to ask his filly for any sort of a finish.
Bred by Klaravich Stable, Himika breezed an eighth in :9 4/5 at the April Sale and caught the eye of Donato Lanni –and, to be fair, those of many others– who signed the winning ticket on behalf of Baoma. The bay had done little wrong in her morning trials locally, and in her final breeze, went heads up with Nothing Like You (Malibu Moon), the 2023 GII Starlet Stakes and 2024 GII Santa Anita Oaks heroine, through four furlongs from the gate in :46 4/5.