It was another new winner for the on-fire MASTERY on Saturday when Cover Me Up won a Santa Anita Maiden Special Weight for Sayjay Racing.
Cover Me Up led the way into the first turn of the one-mile dirt race before being joined by Kerouac with the rest of the field nearly five lengths behind down the backstretch. Kerouac started fading into the far turn and a confident Diego Herrera let Cover Me Up take a breather before Kerouac came back at him in the stretch.
The pair battled to the line with Cover Me Up keeping the advantage and again pulling away in the final sixteenth to win by 1 ½ lengths with the top three 15 lengths ahead of the rest of the field.
Cover Me Up was a $250,000 Keeneland September purchase by North London Bloodstock from breeder Candy Meadows and went through the ring again when purchased for $200,000 as a 2-year-old by Brooke Hubbard. The colt is trained by Richard Baltas and gave indications he is maturing nicely after registering bullets in two of his last five works.
Cover Me Up is the first named foal out of the multiple stakes winner and Grade 2-placed Clothes Fall Off. That mare is one of three stakes performers out of her own stakes winning dam.
It has been a successful year for MASTERY, who has sired five winners in the last four weeks.