Belvoir Bay looks tough in Wishing Well

ARCADIA, Calif. – Belvoir Bay has won four sprint stakes in the past year, three on turf and one on dirt, including the Las Cienegas Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Jan. 12. The race was moved from the hillside turf course to the main track because of wet conditions and was downgraded from a Grade 3 to a listed race.

Because the Las Cienegas lost its graded status, Belvoir Bay is eligible for Saturday’s $70,000 Wishing Well Stakes for fillies and mares at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course. The race is restricted to fillies and mares who have not won a graded stakes since July 1.

Belvoir Bay is very comfortable on the hillside turf course, having won three consecutive stakes on the course last spring, including the Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes against males in April. Belvoir Bay is an eight-time stakes winner in her 23-race career.

“Belvoir Bay could run on the 210,” trainer Peter Miller said, referring to the freeway near Santa Anita.

“She’s good on anything. She’s good at five-eighths or six and a half. We’re in good shape with her.”

Joel Rosario replaces Flavien Prat on Belvoir Bay in the Wishing Well Stakes. Prat is riding at Laurel on Saturday. Through Sunday, Prat led the jockey standings with 29 wins, one more than Rosario.

The Wishing Well drew a field of 12, with four runners on an also-eligible list. Miller has also entered Painting Corners, who was last of four in the Las Cienegas Stakes. She will start in the Wishing Well if the race remains on turf.

“We think she’s better on the turf,” he said.

The Wishing Well field includes La Sardane, who won two stakes at Belmont Park last June, and Lady Suebee and Compelled, who were second and third in the Las Cienegas.

La Sardane, trained by Neil Drysdale, is winless in three starts since winning the Perfect Sting Stakes at Belmont Park on June 30. She won the Grade 3 Intercontinental Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs at Belmont Park on June 7.

La Sardane was fourth in the Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes at a mile on turf here on Jan. 21, leading to the turn before fading to finish 7 1/2 lengths behind winner Vasilika.