Tenma an easy winner of the Las Virgenes S. (G3)

Tenma began her march towards the Kentucky Oaks (G1) with a dominant score in the Feb. 2 Las Virgenes S. (G3) at Santa Anita Park. The 3-year-old filly defeated her Bob Baffert-trained stablemate Cipriani by 6 ½-lengths.

The win earned Tenma 20 additional qualifying points for this year’s Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, upping her total to 33.

Tenma was making her 2025 debut after winning the Starlet S. (G2) at Los Alamitos in early December. With the Las Virgenes field scratched down to just three runners, Tenma hooked up with Just as Fancy early, and those two sprinted some 10 lengths clear of Cipriani in the early going. Tenma took over for good with three furlongs to run, and Cipriani moved into second entering the stretch.

Tenma had things all her own way down the lane and galloped home in 1:38.31 on a fast track.

“She has been maturing,” Baffert said of the winner. “Her worst race was in the Oak Leaf (finished third, last Oct. 5) before the Breeders’ Cup. I didn’t feel like she was mature enough to run in the Breeders’ Cup, but now she has come a long way. [Cipriani], she is just really green and just figuring it out. You will see a big improvement out of her.”

Tenma, owned by the Baoma Corp., is 4-0-1 in five starts and has earned $429,000.

Baffert has won a record nine runnings of the Las Virgenes, including the last four in a row.