ARCADIA, Calif. – Despite finishing last as the odds-on favorite in her most recent start eight months ago, Sweet Azteca returns with an air of invincibility on Sunday at Santa Anita.
Sweet Azteca faces just three rivals in the $100,000 Desert Stormer Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares that is the first start in a campaign owner-breeder Pam Ziebarth and new trainer Richard Baltas hope leads to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 1.
“Pam would love to have her in the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, that’s our ultimate goal,” Baltas said. It was also the goal last year, when Sweet Azteca won four straight races for trainer Michael McCarthy, including the Grade 1 Beholder Mile and two Grade 3 sprint runaways.
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It all came crashing down after Sweet Azteca finished last at 1-10 odds in the Grade 3 Chillingworth Stakes in October at Santa Anita. Two weeks later, the filly was declared out of the Breeders’ Cup. Three months after that, Ziebarth switched trainers. Sweet Azteca was transferred to Baltas in January from Michael McCarthy.
A foot issue briefly interrupted Sweet Azteca’s training this spring at San Luis Rey Downs, but in recent weeks, the 5-year-old mare has thrived. “She hasn’t missed a beat since she’s been up at Santa Anita,” Baltas said. “She’s been working well, she worked in company, she worked by herself, all her works have been good.
“Juan [Hernandez] has been on her the last four or five works,” Batlas said. “I want to hopefully win a race with her, and get her started this year.”
Sweet Azteca figures to win the Desert Stormer at a short price. She is the controlling speed in the four-horse field and none of her rivals have come close to matching the triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures – 103, 106, and 101 – Sweet Azteca reeled off last year in three successive starts.
Rivals for Sweet Azteca include Fayette Fox, who returns to her preferred sprint distance after finishing next-to-last in the Grade 2 Santa Maria at 1 1/16 miles, and Chismosa, who won the Desert Stormer a year ago and returns Sunday to preferred footing after a next-to-last comeback in a turf sprint. Super Shine, a route specialist, also entered the Desert Stormer.
It’s a field Sweet Azteca should handle. Sweet Azteca, by Sharp Azteca, has five wins and $487,200 in earnings from seven starts. Favorites have won five of the last six Desert Stormer editions. Sweet Azteca is likely to the be the most heavily favored Desert Stormer runner since 2014, when 1-2 favorite Sensitively finished second.
Sweet Azteca’s trainer expects nothing short of victory from the odds-on gray. “You’ve got more pressure on you, more expectations, but the horse tells you,” Baltas said. “Some horses are just good.”
Fayette Fox can complete the exacta if she reproduces her most recent sprint, an allowance upset win over a “good” track in February. Chismosa, who prefers dirt, was only prepping two weeks ago when she was unplaced in a turf sprint stakes.
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