Scooter Bird wins Santa Anita feature

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) Scooter Bird rallied to win the $65,000 feature by 4 3/4 lengths Thursday at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Scooter Bird ran 1 1/2 miles on the turf in 2:28.82 and paid $3.60, $2.80 and $2.10 as the 4-5 favorite.

Luvly Rita returned $11 and $4.40 at 25-1 odds, while Irish Presence was another half-length back in third and paid $4.40 to show.

Scooter Bird was fourth in the five-horse field going into the far turn before Nakatani found a seam three-wide into the stretch and took the lead with a furlong to go.

''She ran dynamite,'' Nakatani said. ''I knew Mike had slowed it down pretty good, but the whole key with my filly is getting her to switch off, getting her to relax. She did and she ran great.''

The victory, worth $39,000, increased Scooter Bird's career earnings to $194,650, with four wins in 16 starts.