Catsalot has to prove it again

The 3-year-old filly Catsalot outfinished odds-on You Lift Me Up for second in the California Cup Distance at Santa Anita on Oct. 3. Those two meet again at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday, with Cal Cup Matron winner Lady Railrider thrown into the mix, in the $50,000 Pacific Heights for California-bred fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles.

Trainer Leonard Powell claimed Catsalot for Magalen Bryant when she was entered for a $40,000 tag in her second start last Nov. 30 at Hollywood Park. Since then she's won a maiden special weight on the Hollywood turf in May and a starter allowance on the turf at Golden Gate in August. But her last two starts may have been the best of her career. She rallied to finish second in an optional claimer on the Del Mar grass, and then came the second in the Cal Cup Distance, a 1 1/4-mile turf race.

Powell's next goal is to get Catsalot a stakes victory.

"She's getting better, improving all the time," said Powell. "You Lift Me Up will be tougher. Last time, the race was a mile and a quarter, this time only a mile and a sixteenth."

You Lift Me Up is a multiple stakes winner on turf. She set the pace and finished third, beaten only two lengths, in the Grade 2 Beverly Hills on the turf at Hollywood in June. Before finishing third behind Catsalot in the Cal Cup Distance she won the Solana Beach on the Del Mar grass.

You Lift Me Up has good speed and a rail draw for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, who uses his No. 1 rider, Russell Baze.

Lady Railrider returned from a five-month layoff to score a decisive victory in the Matron, and she's the defending Pacific Heights champ. But the race was run on the main track last year, and her only start on turf came two years ago when she ran second in a Bay Meadows optional claimer.

Also in the field are Shes a Lucky Wager, Windover, Croxie, Novato, and Phantom Ali.