Ce Ce steps back into route in Azeri

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Ce Ce is far from a one-trick pony.

She’s the champion female sprinter of 2021 – and a multiple Grade 1 winner around two turns.

Her appearance Saturday in the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri over 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park could help determine the versatile mare’s campaign direction for 2022.

“This came up at the right time, the right kind of spacing, and it also kind of gives us an idea of which way we go forward from here,” said trainer Michael McCarthy.

The Azeri field of nine fillies and mares includes Shedaresthedevil, a multiple Grade 1 winner who captured the Kentucky Oaks in 2020; Pauline’s Pearl, who is in top form and on the cusp of millionaire status; Super Quick, who makes her stakes debut after wiring her rivals in her last three starts; and Lady Mystify, a Southern California shipper who had Grade 3 success on the road in last year’s Remington Park Oaks.

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Ce Ce also is in from the West Coast to compete in the final local stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap here April 23. The Bo Hirsch homebred won the race in 2020 before focusing on one-turn stakes last year and ultimately capturing the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

“Fantastic performance that day,” said McCarthy. “The filly was coming in bringing her ‘A’ game and then some.”

The Azeri will be Ce Ce’s second start since the BC. She opened her 6-year-old campaign with a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Santa Monica over seven furlongs Feb. 5 at Santa Anita. Ce Ce finished three lengths behind Merneith, who popped a Beyer Speed Figure of 108. Ce Ce earned a 101, up from her 100 in the BC.

“I thought her first race back was very good,” McCarthy said. “Obviously, we got beat by a big performance in Merneith. My filly seemed to run a race that was in line with the numbers that she’d been running last year and it was a good place to get started.”

The sprint comeback should serve as a nice springboard to the two turns of the Azeri. The timing of the local race was one of a few different reasons the decision was made to enter Ce Ce.

“Obviously, Oaklawn Park is a racetrack that she’s familiar with,” McCarthy said. “It seems like she handled it when we sent her for her Apple Blossom victory and it was something that was in the back of our minds going ahead to try to stretch her out around two turns again this year.”

Ce Ce will break from post 5 under Victor Espinoza.

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“It looks like there’s some speed inside of us and a little bit of speed outside of us,” McCarthy said. “I’m going to go ahead and leave that up to Victor.”

Shedaresthedevil will counter from post 7, under Florent Geroux. Last year, she won the Azeri over eventual champion Letruska. Her other wins included Grade 1 fixtures in the La Troienne and Clement Hirsch. Shedaresthedevil is making her first start since running sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 6.

“I thought it was a good race,” said trainer Brad Cox. “Obviously, we ran sixth. She was part of an incredibly hot pace that backed up, but she was the last one to back up. She ran a very good race, hung around. It was a deceptively good effort.”

As Time Goes By, who was eighth, and Letruska, who was 10th, both returned in their next start to win graded stakes.

Shedaresthedevil, now 5, has trained for her return at Fair Grounds. The Azeri was also her seasonal debut in 2021.

“Last year we missed a little bit of time with some weather, but this year she hasn’t missed a beat,” Cox said. “She’s had a steady work schedule and is doing really well.

“She’s carrying really good weight. She’s always been a big filly. She’s even bigger. You could kind of see when she came back from Ocala that she had physically developed even more with the time off.”

Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm is now an owner of Shedaresthedevil, along with longtime owners Staton Flurry and Qatar Racing.

Pauline’s Pearl has won the Grade 3, $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic and $200,000 Zia Park Oaks in her last two starts to push her earnings to $968,500. Joel Rosario has the mount from post 2 for Stonestreet Stables and trainer Steve Asmussen.

The forecast calls for sun and a high of 47 degrees, according to AccuWeather.