Musical Rhapsody comes up big in Santa Barbara Stakes at Santa Anita

ARCADIA — Weighing in at 880 pounds, Musical Rhapsody is a tiny racehorse. Saturday at Santa Anita, this was an advantage.

It made it a little easier for jockey Mike Smith to thread the 5-year-old mare through a pack of rivals and rally from last in a field of seven to win the $100,000 Santa Barbara Stakes by the narrowest of margins.

“You can fit through smaller holes,” trainer Phil D’Amato said of the upside of having an undersized horse.

Musical Rhapsody took the 1 1/2-mile...