ARCADIA, Calif. – Super Corredora has something to prove on Sunday. Winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last fall, she makes her second start of the season in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel at Santa Anita, which was not on her original itinerary.
After Super Corredora sputtered in her February comeback, trainer John Sadler revised her campaign.
“Things changed,” Sadler said.
One month after finishing last of four in the Las Virgenes Stakes, Super Corredora seeks redemption in the 1 1/16-mile Santa Ysabel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Super Corredora is the most accomplished entrant, and most puzzling.
It is virtually impossible to put a positive spin on her Las Virgenes misfire. Super Corredora pressed the pace and surrendered. What happened? Sadler has some ideas.
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“She wasn’t happy in her first race,” he said. “She got hot, and she came out [of the race] and her blood was a little weird. You can say that was a really good field and they just beat her, but some of it was her beating herself.”
Sadler’s initial plan was to run Super Corredora next in the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes on March 27 at Oaklawn Park, or Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks on April 4, as a prep for the Kentucky Oaks. The Santa Ysabel on Sunday will determine if Super Corredora remains a viable Oaks contender.
She will face six less accomplished rivals. Three enter off maiden wins – French Blue, Forced Entry, and Piney Woods. California-bred stakes winner Cee Drew, California-bred sprinter My Love Caroline, and Bank Shot also are entered.
Super Corredora worked well before and after her comeback misfire, and Sadler hopes she simply needed the start. It was her first in three months.
“Maybe she didn’t love her vacation as much as I loved it, but there was nothing I could have done different,” he said.
Jockey Hector Berrios is back aboard Super Corredora, a Gun Runner filly who won the Eclipse Award as 2025 outstanding juvenile filly. While Super Corredora has something to prove, so do Bob Baffert-trained maiden winners French Blue and Forced Entry.
French Blue won first out with a modest 67 Beyer Speed Figure, but the race was better than the number. Third-place Piney Woods subsequently won a maiden sprint while improving her Beyer Figure 20 points to a 79. A similar jump by French Blue makes her a contender. Baffert likes her.
“French Blue, I’ve always been very high on her, just took my time getting her ready,” Baffert said. “The two turns, she should like it. If you look at her, she looks like two turns is not going to be a problem. I think she’s really, really good.”
Sired by Gun Runner and the first runner produced by a Grade 3 sprint winner, French Blue has trained super. Her works include a five-furlong team drill Feb. 22 in which she was slightly best over the colt Potente, who entered the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on Saturday.
Florent Geroux has worked French Blue and rides her Sunday. He replaces Juan Hernandez, who sticks with Forced Entry.
Based strictly on figures, Forced Entry is the one to beat. She earned an 81 Beyer winning a dirt mile by more than seven lengths, the highest last-start figure in the field.
“Going two turns, she looked really good doing it,” Baffert said.
Forced Entry is by Charlatan. Shr and French Blue will try to extend Baffert’s dominance of the Santa Ysabel. The trainer has won the stakes race five straight years and 10 times total.
Piney Woods, trained by Michael McCarthy, stretches out from a dominating maiden sprint victory validated when stablemate runner-up Brooklyn Blonde won next out. McCarthy also trains Las Virgenes winner Meaning, who is aiming to Santa Anita Oaks on April 4.
Cee Drew won the California Cup Oaks on turf last out, and will make her first start on dirt. Trainer Dan Blacker said she has been “working awesome” on dirt.
My Love Caroline, disqualified from a victory last summer in the CTBA Stakes for California-bred fillies at Del Mar, will stretch out for the first time following a comeback win in a California-bred allowance sprint. My Love Caroline helps insure an honest pace.
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