Masochistic Takes Triple Bend

The progressive Masochistic–a game last-out winner of the GII Kona Gold S. here Apr. 11–unleashed a new dimension while registering a career high in ultra-impressive fashion. A three-time winner and runner-up in the Los Alamitos Mile S. Sept. 6 from his first six career starts while under the care of trainer A.C. Avila, the speedy gelding was transferred to Ron Ellis after Jay Em Ess Stable purchased a partial interest following his sharp 6 1/2-panel allowance score in his seasonal debut at Santa Anita Feb. 28.

He was backed accordingly to reel off his third straight decision here after firing a six-furlong bullet in 1:10 4/5 in Arcadia June 19. Away in good order, Masochistic settled kindly beneath Tyler Baze to track San Onofre (Surf Cat) from the outside through a quarter-mile in :22.85 and moved to challenge for the lead through a half in :45.16. Kept under confident handling turning for home, Masochistic spurted clear down the lane and wasn’t for catching en route to a dominating performance.

“It’s awesome [how he’s progressed],” trainer Ron Ellis said. “That’s why we took the two and a half months [off from Feb. 28 to Apr. 11]. He was a little bit rank last time and I figured if we just took some time and really work with him, it would work, and it did. Tyler [Baze] said he was much better today than he was last time. He broke sharp and everything went perfect. It helped that we had that outside post. He’s just a super-talented horse and he’s learning to relax. That’s going to make him tough.”

Part-owner Samantha Siegel added, “We’re thrilled to death. Ron’s done a wonderful job with him. I know he came with a history that he was a run-off horse and wouldn’t rate, but after Ron got him and galloped him the first two days, he sent me a video and said, ‘This is going to be a piece of cake. He’s not half as bad as he was, so this will be easy.’ He’s responded to Ron’s TLC and it’s just been wonderful.”