New York-bred Usha put on a dazzling performance in the $302,500 La Brea Stakes (G1) Dec. 28 at Santa Anita Park. The 3-year-old daughter of Tiz the Law kicked away to win by 5 1/4 lengths in the 7-furlong race. The favorite, Formula Rossa, was second, a neck ahead of Simply Joking in third.
Sent off at odds of 5-1, Usha had to steady early before settling mid-pack behind the front-running Silent Law and Artisma as they set fractions of :21.85, :44.43, and 1:09.38. She started her rally near the half-mile pole and easily drew away to finish the race in a final time of 1:21.68.
“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,” jockey Juan Hernandez said. “(Assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes) and the guys in the barn did a really good job with her and kept her calm. It worked out really well.”
Usha, owned by Michael Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman—known as The Three Amigos—entered the race off a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Raven Run Stakes (G2) at Keeneland Oct. 18.
“Usha showed up today,” her Hall of Fame trainer, Bob 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 (Hernandez) 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 paid $13.20 to win and continued a big day for Baffert, who trained the exacta in both the Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes (G2) and Malibu Stakes (G1).
A member of his first crop, Usha became the first grade 1 winner for Coolmore stallion Tiz the Law, who will stand the 2026 season at Ashford Stud for a $40,000 fee. She was bred in New York by Esler and Raine, and is out of Animal Appeal, a stakes-placed daughter of Leroidesanimaux.
Winless in four starts as a 2-year-old, she broke her maiden in July at Del Mar, where she showed her brilliance in winning by 11 1/12 lengths. She followed that effort up with a 5 1/4-length win in an allowance optional claiming race before trying her hand in graded stakes company in the Raven Run.
The Three Amigos purchased Usha as a juvenile at the 2024 Ocala Breeders' Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training for $600,000. She breezed a furlong in :09 4/5 for consignor On Point Training and Sales. Before that trip through the sales ring, she sold for $30,000 as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton's New York-Bred Yearling Sale in 2023 to Bella Racing.
