La Cara

Tracy Farmer’s homebred La Cara validated her runaway maiden victory last month at Saratoga with a come-from-behind three-quarters of a length victory over Liam in the Dust in Saturday’s 56th running of the $300,000 Pocahonatas (Grade III) for 2-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs.

La Cara ran one mile in 1:37.82 for jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. and trainer Mark Casse.

A Kentucky-bred daughter of Street Sense out of the Bernardini mare Cara Caterina, La Cara, banked $171,945 for the win and is the early points-leader on the “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” after collecting 10 points. The Pocahontas was the first of 33 qualifying races to the Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI) to be run next May, and points were awarded to the top five finishers on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.

Breaking from post three in the field of 14 2-year-old fillies, La Cara was away from the gate a bit slow and found herself in midpack down the backstretch as Stilettos and Kimchi Cat set a pace of :22.70 and :46.33.

In her previous start on Aug. 11 at Saratoga, La Cara led every step of the way en route to an eight-length first victory in a seven-furlong maiden special weight. She handled the adversity Saturday just fine.

After being positioned in 11th after the first quarter mile, La Cara advanced her way into seventh at the half-mile marker along the rail and tipped out to fifth with a quarter mile to run. In the clear on the outside at the top of the stretch, she began to hit her best stride. La Cara grabbed the lead at the eighth pole and outran Liam in the Dust and Icona Mama to the wire.

“She was so impressive winning last time at Saratoga that I had a lot of confidence in her today,” Santana Jr. said. “She’s still learning and improving. I don’t see why she can’t handle going two turns with as impressive as she’s been her last two starts.”

La Cara (5-2-1-0—$258,520) paid $12.72, $7.44 and $5.36 at odds of 5-1. Liam in the Dust, second under Luis Saez at 9-1, returned $11.18 and $7.12. Icona Mama, with Florent Geroux aboard, was another head back in third and paid $11.14 to show at odds of 30-1.