La Brea

TRACK BANDIT SELECTIONS

A dozen sophomore fillies will vie in the contentious $300,000 La Brea S.
(G1) at seven furlongs on opening day at Santa Anita on Saturday. ROSE DIAMOND
(Ire) (Daylami [Ire]) is our upset special in here for trainer Patrick Biancone
off the strength of a pair of fine turf sprints since coming stateside. The gray
filly earned a stout 101 BRIS Late Pace figure for her win down the hill on this
lawn, and followed that up with a useful fourth against a strong field of
elders, also on the green. We love the trio of drills put forth by this one as
she readies for this test, and while we’re not thrilled about the draw, she
shouldn’t be that far out of it in the lane beneath Joe Talamo.

Grade 1 victress GABBY’S GOLDEN GAL (Medaglia d’Oro) has not been seen since
being outrun in the Prioress S. (G1) for Bob Baffert, but the dark bay has been
training well in advance of this and seems poised to make a big impact against
these. A maiden conqueror over this oval in February, the talented Kentucky-bred
has run her best races on dirt but gave us an indication that she didn’t dislike
this strip early in her career. Mike Smith will break from the 10 post atop the
win candidate.

Dual Grade 2 heroine EVITA ARGENTINA (Candy Ride [Arg]) hasn’t run up to par
in her last pair of John Sadler, but we’re willing to excuse her most recent
tries and give her a chance at the win due to her back class. The chestnut lass
is a three-time winner over this oval, should have an abundance of pace to run
at and has been training here exclusively since September. Joel Rosario retains
the mount on the late runner.

Multiple stakes queen KAYS AND JAYS (Macho Uno) returned from a break to wire
the Cascapedia S. most recently and is drawn on the rail in this affair for
trainer Mike Mitchell. The speedy bay has only run one bad race in her life,
when seventh in the Hollywood Oaks (G2) going two turns, and she’s a winner over
this surface and trip. While we think that she might be better on dirt, she’s
surely a talent and could factor in here for a long time with a clean break
under Rafael Bejarano.

Philadelphia invader AMAZED BY GRACE (Bowman’s Band) has won five in
succession for conditioner Guadalupe Preciado and will make her synthetic debut
in this deep field. The surging chestnut is a mystery since she has no
experience over this ground, but we can’t fault her form or the 99 and 100 BRIS
Speed numbers she’s earned of late. Garrett Gomez will guide the top-three
threat. We love the turn of foot MINUTE LIMIT (Ire) (Pivotal) is capable of
bringing forward for John Sadler, and we consider the Irish-bred a sleeper at a
big price in this one. The bay broke her maiden on a synthetic oval and has
flashed ability on the lawn here, and we think the cut back in trip could be
just what the lass needs in order to put her best foot forward on this occasion.
Alonso Quinonez picks up the mount on the bay, who should be rolling late.

PINKARELLA (Malibu Moon) drew widest of the dozen but showed a nice rating
dimension last out when drilling allowance foes for Doug O’Neill. The fleet
Kentucky-bred will still have to prove to us that she belongs at this top level,
but if she can prove able to consistently string races together she could make
an impact under Tyler Baze. Once-beaten bay DANI REESE (High Demand) looked the
part in a fine allowance tally last out for Dan Hendricks and is clearly on the
rise entering this race. With that said, the Kentucky-bred filly needs a career
best to hit the board against these.

STARLARKS (Ire) (Mujahid) has raced solely on the lawn since coming to the
U.S., but the Paddy Gallagher charge did take her lone all-weather start when
based in Europe. An upset winner of the San Clemente H. (G2) in the summer, the
bay had a nice prep for this and could get a small piece late if the speed backs
up. MOTHER RUTH (Speightstown) clearly has ability and hails from the mighty
Baffert barn, but her limited experience on synthetic strips leads us to look
elsewhere. While we like WILL O WAY (Broken Vow) in general, she’s yet to prove
that she belongs with this type. ALICE’S SMART (Smart Strike) is perfect from a
pair of all-weather tries but doesn’t appear to be in the same league as the top
ones.