Bellafina, Gift Box work for Santa Anita opening-day stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bellafina, a fast-closing second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint last month, and Gift Box, a Grade 1 winner in April, had their final workouts Friday at Santa Anita for major stakes on Thursday’s opening day of the winter-spring meeting.

Bellafina, a six-time stakes winner, worked a half-mile in 47.20 seconds for the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs. Trained by Simon Callaghan for Kaleem Shah, Bellafina is expected to be a strong favorite in the $300,000 La Brea Stakes.

Callaghan timed Bellafina in a slightly quicker 46.80.

“She looked very sharp,” Callaghan said.

Bellafina was beaten three-quarters of a length in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint at seven furlongs on Nov. 2. She is winless in four starts since a victory in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks in April.

For the last month, Bellafina has been based at Los Alamitos, but Callaghan said he plans to have horses at both tracks this winter. Horses will be sent to Santa Anita in advance of their races, he said.

“Most of my dirt horses will come here and have one breeze,” Callaghan said.

Gift Box, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in April, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 for a start in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. Owned by Pete and Kosta Hronis, Gift Box has not raced since a fourth in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs in June.

Trainer John Sadler described Gift Box’s exercise as a “lights-out” workout.

“I liked the visual of it all,” he said. “He’s coming around.”

The La Brea Stakes and $200,000 San Antonio Stakes are two of five stakes on Thursday’s opening-day program, which begins at 11:30 a.m. Pacific.

The La Brea shares top billing with the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes, a $300,000 race for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs. Friday, Manny Wah, who has been second or third in four stakes at three tracks, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 for the Malibu.

Manny Wah, trained by Wayne Catalano, has been based with trainer Bob Baffert in the build-up to the Malibu.

The Malibu Stakes has a field of six probable runners, led by Omaha Beach, winner of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in April and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship in October. Other candidates are Complexity, Instagrand, Much Better, and Roadster.

Baja Sur, a stakes winner in Northern California, will miss the Malibu Stakes in favor of the $150,000 California Cup Sprint for statebreds on Jan. 19.

“The Malibu is too tough for us,” trainer Blaine Wright said. “He’s not ready for those graded stakes horses.”

Two one-mile turf races – the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile, a $200,000 race for 3-year-olds, and the $75,000 Lady of Shamrock Stakes for 3-year-old fillies – are part of the opening-day program.