Bellafina must overcome rail post in Great Lady M.

There is no place like home and no better distance than one turn for Bellafina, a seven-time graded stakes winner favored to tighten her grip on the California female sprint division Saturday at Los Alamitos.

Bellafina faces six rivals in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes, a $200,000 race for fillies and mares that seemed a foregone conclusion early this week. That was before Bellafina, 4-5 on the morning line, drew the inside post in the 6 1/2-furlong race.

The rail is not a deal-breaker, but it is a concern. Bellafina is sometimes slow from the gate, a liability that contributed to her defeat as the favorite two starts ago at Oaklawn Park. She broke slowly from the rail and finished a distant fourth. Bellafina rebounded to win her next start at Santa Anita, hardly a surprise. At home, she usually delivers.

Bellafina raced 10 times in California – seven wins and three seconds. Five starts outside the state produced just one third. And though Bellafina has won running long, she is most effective running short. Her last six California sprints produced four graded wins and a pair of Grade 1 seconds, including the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

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Indications leading into Saturday are Bellafina can reproduce her May 17 return-to-form Grade 3 victory at Santa Anita.

“She looks fantastic,” trainer Simon Callaghan said this week, adding she is “really, really good. We’re as happy with her as we’ve been.”

The recent win was the first for Bellafina since the 2019 Santa Anita Oaks and solidified her reputation as California’s top older female sprinter. She earned a 92 Beyer, winning by a length with a perfect trip after being positioned third behind a contested pace. Conditions were ideal, the win was decisive, and the Great Lady M. on Saturday has been the target since.

“Everything has gone according to plan, really well, leading into this race,” Callaghan said, though the comment was made prior to the post-position draw. It will be jockey Flavien Prat’s job to orchestrate a clean break and a clean trip while rallying from behind.

To win the Great Lady M., Bellafina must reel in likely pacesetter Artistic Diva, who finished fifth to Bellafina last out after dueling through a hot pace while making her first start in nearly three months. Artistic Diva, a genuine threat to wire the field, will be ridden by Victor Espinoza. Her new trainer is Juan Leyva, assistant to John Sadler, who is serving a 15-day suspension for medication violations.

Sneaking Out, trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, finished a possibly better-than-looked fifth last out in the fast-paced Grade 3 Winning Colors at Churchill Downs. Sneaking Out moves from the rail to post 3. A two-time stakes winner, Sneaking Out will be ridden by Martin Garcia.

Others in the Great Lady M. field are Donut Girl, Hang a Star, and Amuse. The Great Lady M. is race 8; the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby on Saturday is race 6.