AMBAYA broke her maiden in her first start on June 12 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.  Since then, the 3-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper earned blacktype in the Christiana Stakes at Delaware Park and placed in four of five other races, including finishing second by a nose in a one mile optional claiming event going a mile on the turf at Del Mar in her California debut.  Her connections saw promise and made the decision to jump her Graded stakes company.

A homebred racing for George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable and trained by Jonathan Thomas, AMBAYA went off at 12-1 in Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita. Racing off the pace, AMBAYA tracked the leaders from the inside and then moved out at the top of the lane to launch her bid. She set her sites on the two leaders, then split the pair and dug in deep in the stretch to win by a half-length at the wire. AMBAYA’s stablemate Will Then was third in 1 1/4-mile feature, which gave owner/breeder Strawbridge and trainer Thomas two of the top three finishers.  

AMBAYA was foaled and raised at Stone Farm.   She is out of the Distorted Humor mare Kundry, and is the third winner to represent her dam from her three foals to date.  AMBAYA now has two wins, two second and a third from six starts.

Here’s the race write up from TDN:

Ghostzapper’s Ambaya Lifts Late, Holds Them All Off to Win American Oaks