Bahama Mama sprints again
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - In the long term, Bahama Mama will be tried in one-mile turf races. In the short term, she can pad her list of accomplishments in Wednesday's $75,000 Great Lady M. Handicap at Hollywood Park.
Bahama Mama is proven over the Great Lady M. distance of six furlongs on turf, having won the restricted Lawndale Stakes over the distance on May 9. It was the second time she finished first in as many starts in this country. In the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Handicap on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in April, she finished first but was disqualified and placed fourth for causing interference when the field crossed over the main track.
There was no such incident in the Lawndale. Bahama Mama led from the start, set a moderate pace, and won by a half-length over Macadamia in 1:10.38.
"I thought she ran well," trainer Jim Cassidy said. "I thought the time was a bit on the slow side, but that didn't seem to matter that day. She's not one that shows herself in the morning. I remember the first time I worked her, the works were just fair."
Cassidy would like to start Bahama Mama in longer races, but said there are no immediate opportunities.
"I'm kind of stuck until Del Mar," he said of the meeting that begins on July 16. "I'd like to try and get a mile with her."
Bahama Mama is part of an eight-horse field in the Great Lady M. and will be ridden by David Flores. While she has led in her first two starts, she is not committed to that style, Cassidy said.
"She will rate," he said.
In Germany last year, Bahama Mama won a five-furlong turf race at Baden-Baden by tracking the leaders and taking the lead in the final quarter-mile.
Trainer John Sadler has two starters in the Great Lady M. - Coco Belle and Brendolyn - and both have shown speed. Coco Belle, who will start from the rail, was third in the Monterey Handicap over five furlongs on turf at Bay Meadows on April 19. Brendolyn was second in an optional claimer over seven furlongs on the main track on May 15.
Silky Smooth will be making her first start since a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Santa Monica Handicap in February. She won the Viejas Casino Handicap over a mile on turf at Del Mar last August in her California debut.