Del Mar: St Trinians has found her niche

Shigeki Kikkawa

St Trinians, with Joel Rosario riding, wins the Adoration.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The racing career of St Trinians may be winding down just as trainer Mike Mitchell figures he knows exactly what to do with her. She wants a waiting ride, and she wants a synthetic surface. With both those factors in her corner on Sunday at Del Mar, St Trinians won the Adoration Stakes for older fillies and mares, and now Mitchell has his sights set on next month's Spinster Stakes at Keeneland.

"That would be her last start this year," Mitchell said, "and then they may retire her, or turn her out again and come back next year. One thing I won't do is run her on dirt anymore."

With Santa Anita now having a dirt surface again, that rules out a good chunk of this circuit for St Trinians. The Spinster, though, is an appropriate spot, for St Trinians would remain on Polytrack, the surface over which she won the Adoration.

St Trinians, the favorite in a field of seven, was off a step slowly, and was four paths wide on the final turn, yet she closed from sixth in the final quarter-mile of the one-mile race to defeat Downhill Diva by a half-length. She gave jockey Joel Rosario one of his four winners on the card.

"That's the way you've got to ride her," said Mitchell, who trains St Trinians, 6, for owners Dan Capen and Laura Chavers.

Mitchell unveiled a highly regarded 2-year-old filly on Saturday in Egg Drop, and she did not disappoint, winning her debut sprinting. Mitchell said she will stretch out for the Oak Leaf Stakes next month at Santa Anita.

"We feel like she wants to go longer, so we'll run in the Oak Leaf," he said. "I don't really want to ship her, come back home, and then have to ship again if we go to the Breeders' Cup."