THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY CAUGHT MY EYES WINNING 6-FURLONG IN 1:08.73



Formula Rossa, a 3yo filly by a hot young freshman sire Vekoma, won a maiden special weight race by four lengths in 1:08.73 for the 6-furlong contest on February 21, 2025, at Santa Anita, race 8.

Formula Rossa is trained by Mark Glatt.

Formula Rossa (Vekoma - Fay Na Na, by Majestic Warrior) was off evenly behind early fleeted foot rivals while showing tactical speed chasing the pace throughout the backstretch, continued to keep the leaders in plain sight rounding the far turn before making a bold move three-wide into the stretch and drawing away for an easy win.

Sent off as a 4-1 third choice behind the highly regarded Baffert duo of Brilliantly (4/5) and Cooey (7/2) in a solid field of 8 3yo fillies, Formula Rossa won the race like a 1/5 shot and made the Baffert duo looked like low claiming racehorses.

Keep in mind -- Brilliantly was a $450,000 yearling purchase by Mike Pegram, who is also her owner.

Cooey is a home bred and therefore no yearling sale value is determined.

In this race, Formula Rossa defeated the second-place Brilliantly by four lengths while Cooey finished a well-beaten 7th.

The fractions of the race was 21:87, 44:53, 56:74, with the final time of 1:08.73 for the six-furlong race.

I do not have access to the Beyer Speed Figure for Formula Rosa as of this writing, but I would guess it would be between 108 to 110 (I imagine).

To put that into perspective, the highest Beyer Speed Figure thus far (2025) for a 3yo is by Magnitude (Not This Time - Rockadelic by Bernardini) who just won the Risen Star on February 17, 2025, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 108.

Colloquial (Vekoma - Terminology by Bernardini) -- also a 3yo colt -- earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 106 while breaking his maiden on February 7, 2025.

Keep in mind also is that Formula Rossa is a filly -- and fillies are generally being viewed as below colts in term of level of competition.

With that said, my prediction of her Beyer of 108 to 110 tells you how good Formula Rossa is.

I think she is a star in the making and I'm very excited about her future.


IS FORMULA ROSSA A KY OAK WINNER IN THE MAKING?

I think so!

So head to the futures betting windows and take a crack at Formula Rossa while she is not known yet.

When she wins the Santa Anita Oak on April 5, 2025, her futures odd will be much much lower than today.


As far as her potential to stretch out is concern -- her female side of the family is loaded with long distance bloodline as her dam Fay Na Na is sired by Majestic Warrior, a son of A.P. Indy (Seatle Slew - Weekend Surprise, by Secretariat).

A.P. Indy won the Hollywood Futurity as a 2yo in 1991 at 1 1/16 miles; he went on to win the Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles the following year in 1992.

He then went on to win the Belmont Stakes (1 1/2 miles) in 1992.

He capped off the year by winning the Breeders' Cup Classic (1 1/4 miles) as a 3yo in 1992.

He was retired after the Breeders' Cup win.

He was voted Horse of the Year at the year-end of 1992.


As for Fay Na Na -- she is an unraced mare who never got to the starting gate at the racetracks, perhaps experienced physical issues which prevented her from making to the races.

Formula Rossa is her second foal to race with her other foal to race is named Stirred who broke her maiden in a five-furlong race at first asking as a 2yo at Santa Anita in 2018.

After her maiden win, Stirred never won another race in her four subsequent races at distances of 6 furlongs to seven furlongs -- all on dirt -- two races at Santa Anita, one at Del Mar and one at Oaklawn Park.

She was retired in 2020, perhaps due to injuries too severe to continue racing.