Coastalota goes for three-peat

Coastalota will try to win her third consecutive $50,000 JEH Stallion Station Stakes at Lone Star Park on Saturday. If anything, she seems in a better position to capture the 6 1/2-furlong race for Texas-bred fillies and mares this year than she was last year, when she was up for a neck win over Halo Tyra.

"She was coming off a six-month layoff last year, so in my opinion she's fitter now than she was when she ran in it last year off that layoff," said Randy Mayfield, who trains Coastalota. "She's had a couple of good races at Houston, which she didn't have under her belt last year."

Coastalota last raced March 27, when he finished second by a head in the $40,000 Double Your Flavor Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park. Before that race, she won the $40,000 Tomball at Sam Houston, but was disqualified for interference and placed second. She has trained well for the JEH, which she won for the first time in 2002.

"She's doing everything right," said Mayfield. "I can't brag on her enough. She'll bring her race with her. We'll just have to see how tough it is."

Coastalota, a winner of seven stakes and $379,498, has been considered one of the top Texas-breds in training for years. She is now 7 and races for her breeder, Hubert Southard. Coastalota will be coupled in the JEH with Hay Costa. Both are from the stakes-winning mare Costa de Sol.

"Big sister, little sister," said Mayfield, who trains both horses for Southard.

Mayfield has named Bobby Walker Jr. to ride Coastalota and looks for Coastalota to once again launch a stretch bid in the JEH.

"Bobby will plan it out on how the race goes along," said Mayfield. "Preferably, I'd like to see her off the pace."

With a win, Coastalota would become the first horse to capture a Lone Star Park stakes three times. To do so, she will have to defeat a competitive group that includes Halo Tyra and Lady Sonya.

Halo Tyra has placed second or third in three of her last four stakes starts. She has natural speed and could sit closer to the pace than Coastalota.

Lady Sonya should also be close in the JEH. She was prominent throughout the Double Your Flavor last out, which she won for trainer Jerry Mayfield. Before that start, Lady Sonya finished second in an optional claiming sprint, also at Sam Houston.