Meaning Edges Away From Explora Late To Win The Las Virgenes Stakes For 3-Year-Old Fillies Going One Mile Sunday At Santa Anita; Champion Super Corredora Last After Hot Pace Duel

MEANING EDGES AWAY FROM EXPLORA LATE TO WIN THE LAS VIRGENES STAKES FOR 3-YEAR-OLD FILLIES GOING ONE MILE SUNDAY AT SANTA ANITA; CHAMPION SUPER CORREDORA LAST AFTER HOT PACE DUEL

ARCADIA, CA (Feb. 8, 2026)—Meaning edged away late from odds-on favorite Explora to win Sunday’s $100,000 Las Virgenes Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going one mile at Santa Anita. Super Corredora, last year’s 2-year-old champion, weakened to last in her sophomore bow after being involved in a heated pace duel with Explora.

Meaning (5-2), ridden by Flavien Prat for trainer Michael McCarthy, beat Explora (4-5) by 1 ? lengths. It was another three lengths back to longshot Bank Shot (28-1) in third with Super Corredora bringing up the rear.

Explora and Super Corredora dueled through sharp opening fractions of 22.57 and 45.98 second as Meaning tracked the leaders while saving ground. On the backstretch, Prat made an early move on Meaning and engaged the two leaders on their outside. After six furlongs reached in 1:10.59, Super Corredora began to lose ground. Meaning and Explora continued to battle to the wire with Meaning inching away late for the victory.

“The first quarter mile was quite fast and I couldn’t keep up with them,” Prat said. “When we got to the backside, she came underneath me nicely and I had a chance to get out. I felt like the two fillies in front of me were going to take a little bit of a breather. Since I was doing it so easily, I wanted to keep her involved. She did the job from there.”

Meaning, by Gun Runner, won in a time of 1:38.39. For McCarthy, the Las Virgenes was his third straight win on Sunday’s program. One race earlier he won the Clockers’ Corner Stakes with Yellow Card ($8.40) and the race prior scored in a $20,000 maiden-claimer with Thatsalrightmama ($11.40).

Meaning is owned by Bridlewood Farm and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. She was purchased for $440,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September yearling sale. In two prior starts, Meaning broke her maiden going 6 ? furlongs at Los Alamitos in September and then was a solid fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies when stretched to 1 1/16 miles on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.

“She’s a stronger filly, more mature now,” McCarthy said. “She’s put on a lot of weight here in the last couple of months. It was a big ask going from a maiden at Los Alamitos to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. I gave her some time after the Breeders’ Cup to kind of get her feet underneath her and prepare for something like this.

“The way she did it today was pretty impressive, to come back against a Breeders’ Cup winner and another Breeders’ Cup runner and perform like that. It will be interesting to see how they all progress here in the next couple of months.”

Meaning paid $7.80 and $3.00. Explora, trained by Bob Baffert, returned $2.40.

Live racing resumes Friday at Santa Anita with a nine-race card starting at 12:30 p.m.

LAS VIRGINES STAKES QUOTES

JOCKEY QUOTES

FLAVIEN PRAT, MEANING, WINNER: “The first quarter mile was quite fast and I couldn’t keep up with them. When we got to the backside, she came underneath me nicely and I had a chance to get out. I felt like the two fillies in front of me were going to take a little bit of a breather. Since I was doing it so easily, I wanted to keep her involved. She did the job from there.”

“I’m glad I came. Very thankful they offered me the ride.”

TRAINER QUOTES

MICHAEL MCCARTHY, MEANING, WINNER: “She’s a stronger filly, more mature. She’s put on a lot of weight here in the last couple of months. It was a big ask going from a maiden at Los Alamitos to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. I gave her some time after the Breeders’ Cup to kind of get her feet underneath her and prepare for something like this.

“The way she did it was pretty impressive, to come back against a Breeders’ Cup winner and another Breeders’ Cup winner and perform like that. It will be interesting to see how they all progress here in the next couple of months.

“I thought we could win a couple. It was nice to have Flavien come out. I’m always hoping for the best, but I thought a couple of these were well-meant and would run well.”

OWNER QUOTES

ARON WELLMAN, ECLIPSE THOROUGHBRED PARTNERS, MEANING, WINNER: “This is a filly we have thought highly of from day one, and for her to go out and do what she did today off the layoff in the Breeders’ Cup, beat the champ and beat a really good filly like Explora, it just validates your opinion. You’re happy for the horse, you are happy for the whole team. Michael McCarthy and all of our partners of course.

“She is one that rose to the top of the class right at the beginning and Flavien was able to come out today and hopefully he will stick with her.”

NOTES: The winning owner is Bridlewood Farm or Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners.