ARCADIA, Calif. – A low-profile turf stakes with a new name and chalky history concludes the 10-race card Saturday at Santa Anita. It’s a hillside sprint for 3-year-old fillies that always gets a big field and almost always includes a reliable favorite.
Thirteen are entered in the $100,000 John C. Harris, previously known as the Unzip Me. The stakes race was renamed this year in honor of Harris, the prominent California owner-breeder who passed away in July. Favorites have won the race five of the last six years.
Casalu can extend the pattern in the Harris, which averages nearly 10 starters per year. A two-time stakes winner, Casalu shortens up after setting a strong pace and finishing eighth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks at 1 1/8 miles.
“I told [Kazushi] Kimura to send her,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “She went way too fast. I should have let him ride her himself. She got tired. I’m just going to leave Kimura alone this time.”
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Casalu benefits by a class drop and return to the Santa Anita hill on which she won the $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes in winter. She was off through spring and returned in the summer at Del Mar with a runner-up finish at one mile in the Grade 2 San Clemente. In Saturday’s finale, 6 1/2 furlongs on the hill is just right.
Another benefit for Casalu is the tepid pace scenario. She should be forwardly placed behind modest fractions. Casalu has two wins and a second from three turf stakes starts at Santa Anita and is 3 of 10 overall. Casalu is almost as likely to win the race-10 Harris as Full Serrano is to win the race-9 Goodwood Stakes. The late double could pay short.
Warming ships from the East, drops from graded stakes, and shortens to a sprint. Her trainer, Graham Motion, who won the Unzip Me with Toupie last year, has shipped five horses for California stakes this year and has come away with three wins and a second. Umberto Rispoli rides Warming, whose closing style is not ideal in a race short on speed.
Lightly raced Eiffel had a tough trip and was unplaced last out in an entry-level allowance turf route, but her highly rated runner-up finish two back puts her in the hunt. Eiffel, 2 for 3, is trained by Mike Puype and will be ridden by Antonio Fresu.
Phil D’Amato has entered Innovative and Favor to You in the Harris. Innovative has never sprinted, but she finished first or second in her last four starts in routes.
“She’s just very sharp. She feels like she’s in a good zone right now where she is very confident in everything she does,” said D’Amato, who acknowledged the sprint is shorter than Innovative prefers.
“If nothing else, it’s a good prep for the” Autumn Miss, D’Amato said, referring to the turf mile for 3-year-old fillies on closing day, Oct. 26.
Favor to You won two turf sprints on the Santa Anita main oval early this year. Both recent starts in Kentucky were only okay.
The sentimental choice in the Harris must be Wink and a Grin, owned and bred by Harris Farms, so named for its late proprietor, John Harris. Trained by Carla Gaines, Wink and a Grin will rally late under Hector Berrios.
Other entrants are Practical Dream, Schilflied, Lee’s Baby Girl, Donttellourwives, A Thousand Miles, and Miso Phansy. Harris entrant Tight Squeeze entered back in an allowance race Sunday.
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