Che Evasora, winner of a Breeders’ Cup Challenge event in her native Argentina, will make her stateside debut in Sunday’s $200,000 Zenyatta (G2) at Santa Anita. Two races later, Straight No Chaser launches another comeback in the $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G2).
Zenyatta (G2): Race 7, 7 p.m. ET
With the sudden retirement of Adare Manor, the older female division in Southern California is bereft of its longtime leader. The Zenyatta presents an opportunity for others to step out of her shadow in the final local prep for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1).
Che Evasora, who earned her Distaff ticket as a 57-1 longshot in the May 1 Gran Premio Criadores (G1) at Palermo, would appear to be an unlikely claimant. Aside from the question mark regarding acclimation for a six-year-old mare from the Southern Hemisphere, she’s been competing over distances much longer than the Zenyatta’s 1 1/16 miles.
Yet Che Evasora has been training forwardly since joining Phil D’Amato, who has had good results with similar recruits for R Unicorn Stable. The Japanese-based outfit acquired Macadamia from Brazil and sent her to D’Amato in Southern California, where she won the 2023 Gamely (G1). The same owner/trainer tandem nearly lifted the April 21 Santa Maria (G2) with Super Shine, an Argentinian making her U.S. bow.
D’Amato has a more proven contender in Desert Dawn, runner-up to Adare Manor in last year’s Zenyatta. Desert Dawn’s resume includes an upset of Adare Manor in the 2022 Santa Anita Oaks (G2), but she more often settles for minor awards. Her only win in the interim also came over this track and trip in the Jan. 20 La Canada (G3). Desert Dawn was most recently fourth to Adare Manor in the Clement L. Hirsch (G1) at Del Mar, a race that she’d placed second in the prior two years.
Umberto Rispoli regains the mount on Desert Dawn, while Antonio Fresu moves to new stablemate Che Evasora.
Also coming out of the Aug. 3 Clement L. Hirsch are Flying Connection and Sugar Fish, the respective third and sixth. The Todd Fincher-trained Flying Connection had prior form through Adare Manor, as the distant second in the April 13 Apple Blossom H. (G1) at Oaklawn Park.
Sophomore Sugar Fish was on a roll before flopping in the Hirsch, her first try versus elders in a stakes. The Jeff Mullins filly previously reeled off three straight wins, capped by a 9 3/4-length rout of Nothing Like You in the course-and-distance Summertime Oaks (G2).
Nothing Like You has big shoes to fill as Adare Manor’s erstwhile stablemate. Trained by six-time Zenyatta winner Bob Baffert, Nothing Like You can fire a monster effort on her day. The daughter of Malibu Moon aired in last December’s Starlet (G2) and in the April 6 Santa Anita Oaks, but she’ll need to improve upon her past two. No match for Sugar Fish in the June 8 Summertime Oaks, Nothing Like You was a well-beaten second behind stablemate Hope Road in the Aug. 31 Torrey Pines (G3).
John Sadler, who has won the Zenyatta four times, sends out a new pupil in Alpha Bella. Best known as a Grade 3-winning turf performer for Todd Pletcher, the Justify filly could show tactical speed on the rail.
Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G2): Race 9, 8 p.m. ET
Straight No Chaser delivered a tour de force in the 2023 Maryland Sprint (G3) on Preakness Day, stamping himself as a budding star. Unfortunately, the MyRacehorse runner was then sidelined for a year.
Resurfacing at last in the May 11 Runhappy (G3) at Aqueduct, Straight No Chaser stumbled at the start, rushed up to set the pace, and wilted to fourth. The five-year-old was out of action again over the summer, but he’s gearing back up for Dan Blacker.
Baffert’s Fort Bragg hasn’t been seen since his subpar sixth in the Dec. 26 Malibu (G1). Although his best performances have come around a mile — a hard-fought victory over Saudi Crown in the Dwyer (G3) and a neck loss in the Pat Day Mile (G2) — he was third in last year’s running of this race.
The fascinating newcomer to this division is For All Mankind, who represents Sadler and Hronis Racing. Bred by the Niarchos Family’s Flaxman Holdings and initially campaigned in France, the son of Into Mischief was sold for about $215,000 at the Arqana Arc Sale in 2022. For All Mankind returned from a 16-month layoff to wire an Aug. 10 Del Mar allowance in his dirt debut.
Chilean import Mbagnick, who hasn’t progressed as a router stateside, hopes to reinvent himself for new trainer Marcelo Polanco. Other contenders include See Through It, fourth in the Bing Crosby (G1) two back; class-climbing Roll on Big Joe; and Emerald Downs shipper Neiman.
