DEL MAR, Calif. – What is missing from the filly and mare turf division? A leader. The last eight graded turf stakes for fillies and mares in California have produced eight different winners.
What is missing from the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes on Saturday at Del Mar? Speed. Nine fillies and mares are entered. None is a genuine front-runner.
Medoro could fill both roles Saturday. A flashy comeback win stamps her the favorite in the 1 1/8-mile Mabee. As for pace, Medoro usually presses. Saturday, she could inherit the lead by default.
Medoro is 5-2 in the $250,000 Mabee, race 9. She faces Gimme a Nother, a Group 1 winner in South Africa now based on the East Coast. The others are Grade 3 winner Public Assembly, 2024 Mabee winner Hang the Moon, Mahina, Mission of Joy, Hopeful, Kentucky Gal, and Baltic Fire.
Medoro ranked among the top 3-year-old turf fillies in California last year, winning two stakes and placing in two Grade 1s – a second in the Del Mar Oaks and a third in the American Oaks at Santa Anita. She won 4 of 8 before going on vacation.
“She needed time off,” trainer Peter Eurton said. “She came back in about 50 pounds heavier, with more athleticism to her. Just training like a different horse.”
Medoro ran like a different horse in the Osunitas Stakes, her first start in seven months. She rated in fourth and fifth, smoked her final quarter in 22.70 seconds, and won in 1:34.88. Two fillies she dusted won stakes next out – runner-up Grand Slam Smile and fifth-place Alpha Bella.
A fresh filly making only her second start of the season for owner Lee and Susan Searing, Medoro’s rider is Umberto Rispoli. Medoro is fresh, sharp, and improving.
Gimme a Nother ships from the East. Her trainer Graham Motion has already won the meet’s first filly-mare graded turf stakes. Heredia took the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon on Aug. 9.
After winning all seven starts in South Africa, Gimme a Nother is seeking her first win in North America. She finished second last out in the Grade 2 Canadian at Woodbine, though the form of that race is suspect. The winner, Ready for Shirl, was a second-level allowance winner who subsequently lost her next start by more than 10 lengths. Juan Hernandez rides Gimme a Nother.
An upset candidate in the Mabee is Hopeful. A flashy allowance winner in her U.S. debut, she was unplaced next out as the favorite in a second-level allowance.
“Just kind of a wide trip, perhaps she bounced a little bit off that first U.S. race,” trainer Mark Glatt said. “We’re going to give her the benefit of the doubt. We think she’s a pretty nice filly.”
Hopeful’s rider is Kent Desormeaux.
Phil D’Amato entered four – Public Assembly, Hang the Moon, Misson of Joy, and Kentucky Gal. Public Assembly finished second in the Yellow Ribbon, Hang the Moon finished fourth while running for the first time in more than seven months.
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