The simple approach with Pushiness for Saturday’s $100,000 Daisycutter Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar is to let the four-time winner take her customary position as a pacesetter.
How she does over the next 55 seconds or so is slightly harder to assess.
“There is not really a strategy,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “We’ll let her run away from there. She’s naturally fast.”
So is Imaboutago, who could pressure Pushiness in the Daisycutter, which drew a field of 10 fillies and mares.
Pushiness, owned by Mike Repole, has won two dirt stakes at Del Mar, but has yet to win a turf sprint stakes. In her first start in such a race, Pushiness was a game second by a half-length in the Irish O’Brien Stakes for statebred fillies and mares at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in March, leading to early stretch.
Pushiness drew the outside post in the Daisycutter, which further clarifies how she will be ridden by jockey Juan Hernandez.
“You’re always concerned about that, especially against better horses,” McCarthy said of the post position. “We’ll see how she does against open company.”
There are several runners capable of beating Pushiness, notably her stablemate in Spicybug, the speedy Imaboutago, and Uncorked, a Grade 3 winner in 2024.
Spicybug has won three turf races at six furlongs at Santa Anita since May 2023, and will start in the shortest turf race of her career in the Daisycutter. Spicybug has not raced since a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Intercontinental Stakes for fillies and mares at Saratoga in June 2024.
A 5-year-old mare, Spicybug has had a steady pattern of workouts since late April for her return.
Imaboutago won an allowance race at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar last November for trainer Wesley Ward, and was ninth of 11 in her last start in the $105,000 Abundantia Stakes at five furlongs on turf at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 28.
The Daisycutter Stakes is Imaboutago’s first start for trainer Leonard Powell.
Uncorked, winner of the Grade 3 Royal Heroine Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita in April 2024, was second in the Mizdirection Stakes for fillies and mares on the hillside turf course on May 17, closing from fifth of nine while posing no threat to five-length winner Lunar Impact.
An Australian-bred mare, the Daisycutter is the shortest race of Uncorked’s American career. She was second in a maiden race at 4 1/2 furlongs in Australia in November 2021.
Uncorked is trained by Phil D’Amato, who starts another capable closer in Granny Budgie, the winner of five turf sprints in Britain and California since June 2023.
Granny Budgie closed from fifth of seven to win an allowance race at six furlongs on turf at Santa Anita on April 18. Granny Budgie was last of nine in the Mizdirection after racing between rivals in the opening furlongs.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.