ARCADIA, Calif. – They don’t make the La Brea Stakes like they used to. This year, they made it better.
A seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies, the Grade 1 La Brea came up as the deepest of six stakes Thursday at Santa Anita, and the most compelling La Brea in years. The $300,000 sprint, race 10, includes stars of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. None are tosses. All 11 entrants have a chance.
Tamara is yesterday’s star, trying to replicate a 2023 blowout in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante. Hope Road and One Magic Philly are “now” fillies, both having won Grade 3 stakes this year. Then there is Accuracy, whose 107 Beyer Speed Figure in a maiden route two back hints at potential stardom. But is she as good sprinting?
“Little different going seven-eighths, they run every step of the way,” trainer Michael McCarthy noted, adding that the distance “is not ideal, but it’s a Grade 1 and worth taking a shot.”
The La Brea, the final Grade 1 dirt race of 2024, attracted a strong field. It also includes route-to-sprint Grade 2 winner Sugar Fish; Grade 3-winning comebackers Kinza and Kopion; undefeated stakes winner Sandy Bottom; and allowance fillies Cavalieri, Splendora, and Ultimate Authority.
The race is likely to unfold at a hot pace because most in the field are front-runners or pace-pressers. Those include 3-1 program favorite Hope Road, who is 4 for 4 since transferring to trainer Bob Baffert. Hope Road shortens up after winning two Grade 3 dirt routes in summer.
“I think she’ll like” seven-eighths, Baffert said. “She’s got a lot of ‘go’ to her.”
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Hope Road, produced by Baffert-trained Grade 1 winner Marley’s Freedom, drew an outside post (9) where jockey Juan Hernandez has options.
Baffert also entered Kinza, unraced since a runner-up finish in April in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks; Cavalieri, who Baffert said wants to go two turns; and Splendora. Splendora moves up in class off splashy maiden and allowance wins, but must overcome the rail post.
Hope Road and One Magic Philly have come a long way since they ran one-two in a maiden race in June. Hope Road is unbeaten this year; One Magic won three subsequent starts, including the Grade 3 Chillingworth Stakes. She finished sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint last out. She did not have a good trip.
“She was kind of stuck on the inside, and I don’t think she was really able to extend herself all the way,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. As a result, “she came out of the race with a lot left in the tank. She’s been working back and forth with Stronghold, keeping each other sharp.”
Stronghold entered the Grade 1 Malibu, race 8. Flavien Prat rides One Magic Philly, 4-1 second choice.
Accuracy shortens up from two runaway route wins, including a 107 Beyer maiden romp that was the year’s second-highest figure by a filly or mare on dirt. Thorpedo Anna earned 111 when second in the Travers. Umberto Rispoli rides Accuracy, 5-1 third choice in the La Brea. The challenge for Rispoli will be working out a trip from down in post 2.
McCarthy also entered Sandy Bottom, a three-time winner who returned from an extended layoff with a nose victory over Tamara in an allowance race at Del Mar. Luis Saez rides Sandy Bottom.
Tamara, produced by Hall of Fame race mare Beholder, makes her second start following a long layoff. Runaway winner of the Del Mar Debutante, she had a splint injury out of her seventh-place finish as the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies favorite. Minor setbacks prevented her from returning until last month, when she missed by a nose to Sandy Bottom.
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Mike Smith rides Tamara for trainer Richard Mandella, and Smith was all smiles after working Tamara an easy half-mile on Dec. 21.
“She did that nice, ears up,” Smith said. Smith and Mandella anticipate improvement second start back.
“I’m excited and hoping she’s back where we left off,” Mandella said.
He said the outside post (10) is beneficial.
“She likes a little target to run at,” he said.
Tamara will have multiple targets in a field loaded with speed.
Mandella also entered Kopion, who is not a confirmed starter. The Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes on Jan. 4 is an option.
Sugar Fish finished fifth last out in the BC Distaff. She previously won a pair of Grade 2 routes at Santa Anita – the Zenyatta Stakes and Summertime Oaks. Sugar Fish might be better at two turns, but the possibility of a pace meltdown gives the Jeff Mullins trainee a shot at a come-from-behind upset under Tyler Baze.
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