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Golden State Series Melair Stakes
With her victory in the Melair Stakes at Santa Anita, Fi Fi Pharoah carries the stakes-winning tradition of her dam, Mi Fiona, to a second generation
MAKING MOM PROUD
FI FI PHAROAH RUNS LIKE AN EGYPTIAN IN MELAIR
BY EMILY SHIELDS
Like mother, like daughter.
California-bred My Fiona, by Ghostzapper—A Vision in Gray, by Two Punch, was a multiple stakes winner who earned $478,743. Now her frst foal, Fi Fi Pharoah, has carried on the tradition by winning the $151,000 Melair Stakes at Santa Anita June 19.
My Fiona won six times, including the $100,500 California Toroughbred Breeders’ Association Stakes at Del Mar, $200,000 Golden State Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Santa Anita, and $200,250 Soviet Problem Stakes at Los Alamitos, all in 2014. Her exploits earned her the title as California’s champion 2-year-old female.
Sent to the breeding shed in 2017, My Fiona visited 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, making Fi Fi Pharoah a very rare Cal-bred by that sire. Fi Fi Pharoah was so highly regarded as a youngster that trainer Walther Solis entered her in the $152,000 Evening Jewel Stakes as a maiden, and Fi Fi Pharoah fnished second.
Te chestnut sophomore flly means a lot to breeder and co-owner Terry Lovingier of Lovacres Ranch. He campaigned My Fiona with Tom Beckerle and Amanda Navarro and now races her daughter with them.
“You can’t have a more special day,” Lovingier said after the race. “To breed them and then foal them out at the farm, to watch the birth, I mean she stood up in 15 minutes. She was probably about 165 pounds right away. I have video of her nuzzling me from the moment she stood up.”
In the Melair, Fi Fi Pharoah raced last early under jockey Umberto Rispoli. Tey tracked the feld during the early stages of the 11⁄16-mile contest, with 21-1 shot Mucha Woman setting the pace.
Fi Fi Pharoah was still last passing the half-mile marker, but she made a furious rally to draw even with leader Eddie’s New Dream at the head of the stretch. Te two fllies dueled to the wire until Fi FI Pharoah gained the advantage right before the line. She scored by a halflength, with Eddie’s New Dream second and I’m So Anna third.
Te $90,000 winner’s share of the purse put Fi Fi Pharoah’s earnings at $178,560 with two wins, a second, and a third in fve starts. Having broken her maiden over the same course May 15, Fi Fi Pharoah has now won two in a row.
Trainer Solis said of the Melair efort, “I didn’t think we would get beat this time. She just ran from the three-eighths; she knows when she has to speed up. She’s a classy flly.”
My Fiona has had a big month. Her second foal, Finneus, broke his maiden June 13. He is the frst of three consecutive Stay Tirsty ofspring for the mare. She has a yearling colt and a 2-month-old flly by that Lovacres Ranch sire.
Te morning after the race, Lovingier was full of admiration for the mare and her flly.
“My Fiona has been fantastic,” he said. “She’s a really, really good broodmare, and she’s good to handle at the farm. I wouldn’t mind taking her back to American Pharoah, but judging by the babies coming up, she’s absolutely married to Stay Tirsty. Te flly she just had is phenomenal, and it’s a stone-cold cross.”
