Making her Grade I debut and just her second start in stakes company, Usha (Tiz the Law) dazzled through the final two furlongs to romp home in the GI La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita Sunday, giving her sire his first Grade I winner.
A highly-touted debut runner during the Del Mar summer in 2024, the $600,000 OBS April grad has the unfortunate luck of running behind several classier stablemates including the likes of GISW Tenma (Nyquist) and GSW Non Compliant (Tiz the Law). Being a New York-bred, Usha then made a trip to her home state where she again ran second facing fellow state-breds at Aqueduct in late Oct. 2024.
“Usha showed up today,” Baffert said. “I shipped her to Kentucky for her last race and she lost it in the paddock. She came back here and that worked well. Juan knows her really well, I didn’t have to say anything to him. We expected this when I shipped her to Kentucky, and didn’t win a race, but today she showed up.”
“She is really good…she can be a little nervous and leaves some of the race in the post parade but today she was really calm,” added Hernandez. “[Baffert assistant Jimmy Barnes] and the guys in the barn did a really good job with her and kept her calm. It worked out really well.”