ARCADIA, Calif. – Graded stakes winner Uncorked enters the $100,000 Mizdirection Stakes with a handful of attributes and a cloud over her head Saturday at Santa Anita.
The positives include a class drop, return to firm turf, and route-to-sprint cutback that trainer Phil D’Amato hopes will lead to the first win by Uncorked in a year. That’s the problem. Uncorked has lost eight straight since winning the Grade 3 Royal Heroine at a mile in April 2024.
“She’s had a lot of excuses,” D’Amato said with a tinge of frustration. “She trains like a filly that should win one of these races, she just hasn’t been giving it to me in the afternoon.”
Late Saturday afternoon, Uncorked and nine other fillies and mares sprint 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside course. The Mizdirection is the 10th and final race. Uncorked is hardly a cinch.
The deep field includes Uncorked’s sharp stablemate Granny Budgie, comebacker Lunar Impact, hillside specialist Venganza, and five-time dirt stakes winner Chismosa. Miss Roberts, Ang N Ash, Tahini, Beyond Lucky, and Valence also are entered.
The race goes through D’Amato. Uncorked is the class of the field on the downslope of her career at age 6. Granny Budgie is 4 and moving up the ladder off a sharp victory in a second-level allowance.
Most years, the Mizdirection is won by a dropper. Six of the 10 editions were won by a runner exiting a graded stakes. Uncorked fits the profile, and D’Amato has longed to run her down the hill.
“I always wanted to try this distance with her, even since last year,” he said. “We just kept finding those mile spots we thought fit her well and were hard to pass up. We had [the Mizdirection] in mind even before we ran in the last race.”
The last race was a debacle. Uncorked was trying to win the Royal Heroine for a second time, but she surrendered and finished 10th at 4.70-1 odds. Maybe she had an alibi. Maybe she has lost interest in racing.
“That day it did rain a lot, and [jockey] Mike Smith said she did not like cut in the ground at all,” D’Amato said. “I’m hoping with her tactical speed, she’s got a nice little turn of foot, and six and a half is to her liking.”
Kazushi Kimura worked Uncorked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00 on synthetic last weekend and rides her Saturday. If she still has competitive spirit, Uncorked can win the Mizdirection.
Granny Budgie is “a filly on the improve,” D’Amato said about the 5-for-10 filly. “She’s going to come with a run.”
Tiago Pereira rides Granny Budgie, who will try to become the first to win the Mizdirection off an allowance race since So Sweetitiz upset the race in 2016.
Lunar Impact has speed for a pressing trip in a race with a murky pace scenario. Venganza, a two-time winner on the hill, shortens up after finishing fourth in the Royal Heroine.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.