ARCADIA – Darya and jockey Hector Berrios got up to defeat Inbox and Joel Rosario in the closest of photo finishes as trainer Phil D’Amato saddled the 1-2 finishers in the Honeymoon Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Saturday at Santa Anita.
Both Darya (who paid $14.40) and Inbox are owned by a partnership that includes Little Red Feather Racing. D’Amato had four of the eight runners in the 1-mile turf race, and Little Red Feather had three.
Berrios was aboard Darya for the first time in the Honeymoon while regular rider Antonio Fresu was at Saratoga with three horses for trainer Doug O’Neill on the Belmont Stakes card.
Favorite Light Won Up was fourth in the Honeymoon in trying to provide a consolation prize for Doug O’Neill, whose 24-1 long shot Vitruvian faded to seventh behind winner Golden Tempo in the Belmont.
It was a mixed afternoon at Saratoga for horses, jockeys and trainers with California roots. Bob Baffert-trained Nysos won impressively in the Metropolitan Handicap, as Michael McCarthy’s Journalism ran third. But Baffert’s Crude Velocity was upset by Cherie DeVaux’s Englishman in the Woody Stephens.
O’Neill’s Listenupshance threatened as the 21-1 long shot in the True North Stakes only to finish third to star sprinters Book’em Danno and Bentornato. Richard Baltas’ Ag Bullet finished second in the Jaipur turf sprint to Reef Runner, familiar to California fans from his successful trips to Del Mar and Santa Anita in 2025.
D’Amato leads the Santa Anita trainer standings, with 16 wins to John Sadler’s 13, with five racing days left in the Classic Meet. Armando Ayuso leads the jockeys, with 27 to Fresu’s 24, after Ayuso won three races Saturday while Fresu was away.