An 11-Horse Rodeo
It is a well-matched group of 11 turf distaffers that will face the starter for Saturday’s GI Rodeo Drive S. at Santa Anita, with a fees-paid trip to the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly/Mare Turf in store for the winner. Question is, where will that winner come from?
East Coast shippers have had their fair share of luck in this event–the former Yellow Ribbon S.–including two-time winner Wait a While (Maria’s Mon, 2006, 2008) and last year’s heroine Emollient (Empire Maker). Hard Not to Like (Hard Spun), upset winner of the 2014 GI Jenny Wiley S., sold to Speedway Stable for $1.5 million at last year’s Keeneland November sale and has since crossed the wire first in three of her four runs for her new owners. Disqualified from an apparent victory and placed second in the GIII Endeavour S. at Tampa Jan. 31, the Ontario-bred was third in defense of her Jenny Wiley title Apr. 11 and successfully raided to best Fanticola (Silent Name {Jpn}) by a nose in this track’s GI Gamely S. May 25, overcoming some stretch traffic to do so. She came from several lengths off the pace to just tag Tepin (Bernstein) last time out in the GI Diana S. at Saratoga July 25, and if there is a question, it is Saturday’s 10-furlong trip which she tries for the first time.
If the distance is an unknown with Hard Not to Like, it could be a feather in the cap for Lady Pimpernel (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}). A three-time winner over a mile and a quarter in Europe and placed at 14 furlongs when trained by Henry Candy, the chestnut has not missed the top three in her four starts stateside. A troubled and fast-finishing third to Three Hearts (Hat Trick {Jpn}) in the 11-furlong GIII Red Carpet H. at Del Mar last November, she was up late to score by a nose in the GIII Robert J. Frankel S. over this course Dec. 27. She moved prematurely to the lead in the Jan. 18 Astra S. before finishing second going a mile and a half and has one run since, a useful third in the Sept. 6 GII Yellow Ribbon H. at Del Mar.
Though winless in her four local appearances, Three Hearts rates a longshot look here. Third to Lady Pimpernel in the Frankel after being steadied late, the Team Valor homebred was runner-up in the GII Santa Ana S. Mar. 15 and was locked away and short of running room when third behind Queen of the Sand (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) and Fanticola in the GIII Santa Barbara H. Apr. 18. Typically prominent in the run, the bay raced far back when ninth to Hard Not to Like in the Gamely and exits a seventh to subsequent GI Arlington Million hero The Pizza Man (English Channel) in the GIII Stars and Stripes S. July 11.
Queen of the Sand just failed to catch Fanticola in the June 27 GII Royal Heroine S. at this track and missed by a head to Elektrum (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) in the GII John C. Mabee S. at Del Mar Aug. 8.