Ain't Easy's works say she's ready to fire in Santa Ysabel

Through February, Ain’t Easy worked consistently each Sunday at Santa Anita, often drawing positive reviews from trainer Phil D’Amato.

By the middle of the month, the scrimmages intensified, with Ain’t Easy working with stakes-caliber older horses. By the end of the month, Ain’t Easy was declared ready for her 3-year-old debut in Sunday’s Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.

Ain’t Easy has not raced since winning the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles on Oct. 2. She was pre-entered for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Nov. 5, but was not entered. She later was found to have a bone chip in an ankle.

:: Win big at Santa Anita: Get DRF Past Performances, Picks, Clocker Reports and Betting Strategies.

Ain’t Easy, who races for Joey Platts, Old Bones Racing Stable, and Michael Lombardi, resumed workouts in late January.

On Feb. 20, Ain’t Easy worked five furlongs in 1:00 in company with Alice Marble, who won the restricted Wishing Well Stakes for female turf sprinters on Feb. 26.

“Alice is a good work horse on the dirt,” D’Amato said. “I thought [Ain’t Easy] was going as easy as Alice was, if not easier, with a nice gallop-out.”

On Feb. 27, Ain’t Easy worked six furlongs in 1:14.60 from the gate with Phantom Dance, who was entered in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs.

“That gave me the green light to run in this race,” D’Amato said.

Ain’t Easy, who will be ridden for the first time by John Velazquez, is one of four stakes winners in a field of nine in the $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes. Under the Stars, the impressive winner of the Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes at seven furlongs on Jan. 8, will have her debut around two turns. She is trained by Bob Baffert.

Eda and Cairo Memories, first and second in the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos in December, will start for the first time this year on Sunday. Cairo Memories won the Surfer Girl Stakes on turf at Santa Anita last October and was later ninth, beaten only 2 3/4 lengths in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 5.

Cairo Memories, who races as a stalker, started on dirt for the first time when beaten a half-length by Eda in the Starlet Stakes. Cairo Memories has had a steady pattern of workouts since late January for the Santa Ysabel.

“She is ready and should get a good trip,” trainer Bob Hess Jr. wrote in a text message on Friday.

Under the Stars drew the outside post and will be ridden by leading rider Flavien Prat. Under the Stars disputed the pace in her Santa Ynez win. In December, she closed from fifth of 12 when she won a maiden special weight race at six furlongs at Los Alamitos.

From a pedigree perspective, Under the Stars, by Pioneerof the Nile, should be able to handle a longer race. She is a half-sister to Bodemeister, the runner-up in the 2012 Kentucky Derby.

“She looks like a quality filly,” D’Amato said of Under the Stars. “She’s the now horse. She has not run two turns yet. There is a question mark around that even though she’s a nice filly.

“I know my filly [Ain’t Easy] has won a graded stakes around two turns.”

D’Amato also starts Desert Dawn, who was third in the Chandelier, sixth in the BC Juvenile Fillies, and fourth after a wide trip in the Starlet.

“She had a wide trip all the way around,” he said. “I’m expecting a nice kick from her later in the race.”