The Santa Anita Winter/Spring meet that will provide more than 100 days of racing from now to June kicks off with three major stakes races on opening day, December 26. Races 6 and 8 will be Grade I events, first the $300,000 La Brea Stakes for three-year-old fillies running seven furlongs on the dirt, and then the $300,000 Malibu Stakes for three-year-olds also at seven furlongs. Sandwiched between will be the $200,000 Grade II Sir Beaufort Stakes, for three-years-olds going one mile on the turf.
The morning line favorite for the La Brea is Kentucky-bred Sweet Lulu (8-5), already a Grade I winner three starts back in the Test Stakes at Saratoga this past summer. Unraced as a juvenile, she started her career with four straight wins. She also finished second in the Grade I Cotillion Stakes, before fading to fifth after having the early lead in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Trainer Peter Miller has two in the race, including the second ML choice My Happy Face, who has had some results in graded-stakes company, but who is still looking for a Grade I win.
If she can manage to find her form of last year, Executiveprivilege, 4-1 in the morning line, may have something to say in the outcome. In 2012 she won three straight graded races, with the last two being Grade I’s. After a second in the BC Juvenile Fillies as the favorite, she closed out the season with a fourth in the Hollywood Starlet. But she’s zero-for-two in a high-level allowance and a minor stakes for 2013. Longshot Journey On (12-1) has won four-of-five at much lower competition, and on the grass. If she takes to the dirt, she might get a piece.
One of the most historic - and controversial - editions of the Kentucky Derby is in the books and the next leg of the US Triple Crown moves to Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course for the running of the Preakness Stakes. The 1 3/16 test over the Pimlico dirt track is drawing a wide-open field of three-year-old thoroughbreds gunning for the $1.5 million purse.
Led to the gate by pre-race morning line favorite Omaha Beach, a full field of 20 are set to line up for the 145th Kentucky Derby on late Saturday afternoon. They're running for a total purse of $3 million on the 1 1/4 mile Churchill dirt course and making their bid to follow 2018 winner Justify as Triple Crown champions.
The $100,000 Grade 3 Bashford Manor Stakes July 2 at Churchill Downs features a field of nine up-and-coming two year olds in a race that may be as confusing as it is competitive.
With the Grade 1, $500,000 Stephen Foster the centerpiece of a stellar Downs After Dark racing card June 18 at Churchill Downs, the expected field of seven older runners presents an interesting handicapping puzzle.
Preakness Stakes 2019 Early Race Preview
10 May 2019One of the most historic - and controversial - editions of the Kentucky Derby is in the books and the next leg of the US Triple Crown moves to Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course for the running of the Preakness Stakes. The...
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