Anisette to skip a final prep for Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf

Anisette, a five-time stakes winner who was a close third in the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar on Sept. 7, will have her next start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2.

Trainer Leonard Powell said on Friday that Anisette will miss the Grade 2 Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 5 by design.

“I think we’ll freshen for the Breeders’ Cup,” he said. “She has run well fresh.”

Owned by the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners syndicate, Anisette won her 2024 debut in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita in May after a five-month layoff and started twice at the Del Mar summer meeting, winning the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Stakes on Aug. 10 before losing the Mabee by a half-length to Hang the Moon.

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Anisette finished in front of race favorite Didia in the Mabee.

“She came out of the race well,” Powell said. “We rode her more prominently than usual because Didia was the horse to beat. We did beat Didia, but we got beat.”

Anisette has been the leading turf female in California in the last year, and will race against the toughest field of her career in the $2 million BC Filly and Mare Turf at 1 3/8 miles.

Anisette won the Grade 1 American Oaks at 1 1/4 miles on turf for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita last December and was second to Didia in the 2023 Rodeo Drive Stakes.

Powell has stakes plans for Air Force Red on Sept. 28, with two Grade 2 turf races as options – the $750,000 Eddie D Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course, or the $200,000 City of Hope Mile.

Powell said he plans to study the races before finalizing a plan.

“He runs very well when he’s prominent,” he said. “I want to see the pace scenario.”

Air Force Red won the Grade 2 Joe Hernandez Stakes on the hillside turf course in December 2022 and his most recent start in an allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Del Mar on Aug. 29 in which he led throughout.

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