ARCADIA, Calif. – Among the challenges that face California racing is an alarming lack of depth to many categories, including dirt fillies and mares. From maidens to stakes, it’s a constant struggle to fill races.
“We historically have had a very hard time keeping the older [dirt] fillies around,” Santa Anita racing secretary Jason Egan acknowledged. “It’s a problem that trickles through the entire filly-and-mare ranks, all the way down the line to stakes.”
The issue affects two key dirt sprints this week at Santa Anita. The $100,000 Desert Stormer Stakes on Sunday drew only four entrants, including likely odds-on favorite Sweet Azteca. But a maiden sprint scheduled for Friday attracted only two entrants and was scrapped altogether.
The cancellation left $575,000 juvenile Margarita Girl without a proper race, so she will launch her 3-year-old campaign in unorthodox fashion. Margarita Girl, a two-start maiden, will face winners Friday in race 8, an entry-level allowance. It was not her trainer’s first choice.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” trainer Mark Glatt said. “My people buy horses, bring them here to race for less money [than other circuits], and they expect to be able to run their horses in a maiden allowance. The state needs to wake up.
“We’ve put in all the protocols to make racing safer, now we need to survive,” Glatt added. “Unless the state wakes up and helps us out, we’re going to slowly die off.”
The problem is low purses. While purses on other circuits are supplemented by alternative forms of gaming, California purses are based solely on racing handle and it’s not enough to compete. The options for Margarita Girl, a maiden, were to stay local and face winners for a $61,000 purse Friday at Santa Anita or ship to Churchill Downs to face maidens for double the purse.
“I put it bluntly to the owners,” Glatt said. “She can ship to Kentucky for a $120,000 maiden race June 8, or we can keep her here and try a race like this. If [Margarita Girl] is what we think she is, she should beat this field. But I’m not happy about it, and it’s happening on too many occasions. There aren’t enough people buying quality horses to bring here to race.”
The last Santa Anita dirt sprint for maiden fillies and mares drew five runners April 25, when Margarita Girl was not quite ready. She is ready Friday. Though still a maiden, Margarita Girl is a leading allowance contender based on a fast runner-up debut last summer at Del Mar.
Margarita Girl’s main rival Friday is comebacker Sugar Hi, who will make her first start in California and first for trainer Phil D’Amato. Eight fillies and mares entered the first-level allowance sprint in which Sugar Hi is likely to starter lower than her curious 8-1 morning line.
“I don’t know how she trained before, but she’s trained like a really nice horse,” D’Amato said. “She’s done everything right, and fits to be one of the choices in a [non-winners of one].”
Sugar Hi has looked super in company in Santa Anita workout videos. If she reproduces her 80 Beyer Speed Figure on debut as a Bill Mott-trained 2023 juvenile, Sugar Hi can win for D’Amato.
“Winning first out at Saratoga, that’s no easy feat. Her first race was awfully impressive,” D’Amato said. Sugar Hi regressed in four subsequent starts for Mott, but is working like a new filly this spring.
Mike Smith rides Sugar Hi, a 4-year-old by Twirling Candy. Antonio Fresu rides Margarita Girl, a 3-year-old also sired by Twirling Candy and is listed at 5-2. The program favorite is Wishtheyallcouldbe, a nine-time winner entered for the optional $50,000 claiming tag.
The six-furlong allowance feature also marks the U.S. debut of 4-for-5 Chilean import Shining Star, trained by John Sadler. Others in the field include Scary Fast Ride, Maximun Gold, Entrepreneurship, and Big Pop.
In addition to comebacks of Sugar Hi and Margarita Girl, the Friday program includes split divisions of a turf sprint for maiden 2-year-old fillies. Races 1 and 5 each have six entrants. Queen Bay makes her debut for trainer Simon Callaghan in race 1. By first-crop sire Charlatan, Queen Bay was purchased this spring for $350,000 and is the 2-1 program favorite.
La Ville Lumiere, listed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite in race 5, is the most probable winner on the card based on her runner-up debut two weeks ago on dirt. La Ville Lumiere set the pace, was overhauled late, and galloped out willingly after the wire. Trainer Michael McCarthy believes the surface switch is fine for the City of Light filly.
“I had a feeling all along she would probably appreciate the grass,” McCarthy said, recognizing the 14-day turnaround. “Little bit of a question mark. We got the 14 days, then we have all kinds of time until we find something else for her.”
The Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes on Aug. 10 at Del Mar is the next open stakes for 2-year-old fillies in Southern California.
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