Beautiful Gift may go favored in refreshingly wide-open Santa Anita Oaks

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Santa Anita Oaks has a different look this year, which is appropriate since the 3-year-old filly division has a different look every month.

“The division’s been a little bit suspect, a lot of the good horses got hurt,” trainer Bob Baffert noted. Before and after Princess Noor retired, a parade of fillies has come and gone – stakes winners Astute, Moonlight d’Oro, and Varda are all sidelined.

Others are always in the wings, and the latest arrival is Beautiful Gift, the Baffert trainee who upset Moraz last month in her first start following a four-month layoff. The rematch is in the Santa Anita Oaks, race 6 on Saturday.

Beautiful Gift and Moraz top the five-runner Grade 2. Sharp debut winner Soothsay stretches out with a chance to upset; Javanica finished second against boys last out in a stakes race on synthetic at Golden Gate; Brilliant Cut is the longest shot in the field.

At this stage, none has emerged as a threat to Kentucky Oaks favorites Travel Column and Clairiere. That could change Saturday. The biggest change – a different look – is the wide-open nature to this year’s Santa Anita Oaks, which was won by odds-on favorites four of the last five years – Songbird, Midnight Bisou, Bellafina, and Swiss Skydiver.

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Beautiful Gift could go favored Saturday based on her Grade 3 Santa Ysabel win, though her advantage is slight. By Medaglia d’Oro and a sibling to Baffert-trained graded winner Chitu, Beautiful Gift won a maiden route second time out in October, then disappeared.

“She was very immature, and very light,” Baffert explained. “I let her build up, let her fill out at little bit.”

She returned last month in the Santa Ysabel and defeated Moraz by a head at the Oaks distance of 1 1/16 miles.

“The farther, the better for” Beautiful Gift, Baffert said. “She was just getting rolling there at the end.”

John Velazquez rides Beautiful Gift, who is the only starter with two wins. All of the others are eligible for a first-level allowance, including stakes-placed Moraz and Javanica.

Moraz has improved each successive start for trainer Michael McCarthy. The 1-for-4 filly appeared on her way to victory in the Santa Ysabel when she opened up by 1 1/2 lengths in midstretch only to get nailed late.

“We’ll try it again, and try to do one or two things different,” McCarthy said. Such as? “Just try to pay attention to what’s going on, where the wire is, rather than what’s going on behind.”

In the Santa Ysabel, jockey Umberto Rispoli briefly paused in deep stretch to look over his right shoulder, and got collared. Rispoli is back aboard Moraz on Saturday.

Javanica is the most experienced contender in the Oaks, a four-time stakes runner-up, including the El Camino Real Derby last out on the synthetic surface at Golden Gate Fields. The Oaks will be the first start on dirt for Javanica, who has won 1 of 6.

“Now’s the time to take a shot on dirt,” trainer Eoin Harty said. “She trains really well on it. I’ve worked her in behind horses.”

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Javanica lost significant ground rallying wide at Golden Gate, and finished a neck behind Rombauer, who is entered in the Blue Grass on Saturday at Keeneland. Javanica finished four lengths in front of third. Mike Smith rides Javanica for the first time on Saturday.

Soothsay looms an upset candidate while attempting a difficult class hike second time out. After winning her career debut in a maiden sprint, she will go two turns in a graded stakes. It’s an ambitious spot.

“It is,” trainer Richard Mandella acknowledged. “But you can see by her works . . . I don’t make horses work [six furlongs in 1:11.40]. She went 11, galloped out in 24 and change, and the [exercise rider] said she was like an old pro.”

Soothsay would not be the first filly trained by Mandella to win the Oaks stretching out from a maiden sprint. Paradise Woods did it in 2017. Mandella said since her debut she “has done nothing but good. She is just giving me the feeling we should try.”

It is the right year, because the 2021 Oaks field is none too compelling. Soothsay, sired by Distorted Humor, is the second runner produced by Mandella-trained Grade 2 winner Spellbound, fourth in the 2013 Oaks won by Beholder.

Though it might be early to compare Soothsay to her dam, Mandella was not shy. He said Soothsay is “stronger and better” than Spellbound. Flavien Prat rides Soothsay.

The longshot Brilliant Cut stretches out and could set or press the pace, with Soothsay also likely to be forwardly placed.