Baltas runners look promising, including Ippodamia's Girl in Swingtime

ARCADIA, Calif. – A veteran stakes winner in the twilight of her career looks solid in the Swingtime Stakes, but Ippodamia’s Girl is not the only Richard Baltas trainee that commands attention Saturday at Santa Anita.

Ippodamia’s Girl shortens to her preferred distance as the likely favorite in the $70,000 Swingtime, a restricted turf mile for fillies and mares. Baltas also entered front-runner Nasty. The late-running contenders include Avenue de France, Brooke, and Global Brand.

While the Swingtime is positioned later on the card, three maiden races earlier might ultimately provide more significance than the seventh-race feature. Baltas entered key starters in all three – races 3, 4, 5.

Baltas-trained Sai Con runs in race 3, a six-furlong turf race for older maidens. Sai Con has improved both starts since being gelded and adding Lasix. After tiring in his comeback, he finished a creditable third last out and enters as one of the logical choices Saturday.

However, Sai Con faces a formidable rival in Kazuhiko, a highly regarded Australian import whose troubled U.S. debut at five furlongs – he finished third – stamps him the most probable winner on the card stretching out an additional furlong.

Richard Mandella trains Kazuhiko, a $1.2 million yearling who made his debut as the favorite in a Group 3 in Australia. He finished second, ran twice more in maiden races, then shipped to the United States. With a clean trip Saturday, Kazuhiko and apprentice rider Jessica Pyfer should win the maiden turf sprint rallying from off the pace.

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Baltas has a better shot in race 4 with Straight Up G, a first-time starter in the dirt sprint for California-bred 2-year-olds maidens. Straight Up G, a fast-working colt by speedy first-crop stallion Straight Fire, is a sibling to Baltas-trained allowance filly Gidgetta. The colt’s rivals include Creative Peak and Moose Mitchell.

In race 5, Baltas-trained Lucky Girl makes her U.S. debut following a better-than-looked third-place debut in Ireland. Lucky Girl broke slowly, lost ground early, and finished well in a race dominated by two front-runners. Lucky Girl, who appears to have worked very well for Baltas, faces locals Let Freedom Rein and Peanut Butter Cup.

While the Baltas comeback maidens are unproven and perhaps unpredictable, the 6-year-old mare Ippodamia’s Girl is reliable. Well, most of the time.

Ippodamia’s Girl sometimes grabs the bit and tries to run off, a tactic that backfired last out when she sped to the lead in a 1 3/8-mile turf stakes, hit a wall, and finished last. But at a mile on turf, she is 5 for 11.

If she rations her speed the same way Saturday as she did while winning the restricted Osunitas Stakes two starts back at Del Mar, Ippodamia’s Girl and jockey Mario Gutierrez can win the Swingtime for owner-breeders George and Martha Schwary.

Avenue de France won a minor stakes race two months ago at Golden Gate and will be rolling late. Brooke, a Group 1 winner in Chile who placed in three U.S. stakes, should be forwardly placed behind likely pacesetter Nasty.