Corps de Ballet returns to her strength
ARCADIA, Calif. – Corps de Ballet will be a turf sprinter for the foreseeable future.
Last fall, Corps de Ballet won a maiden race on Santa Anita’s 6 1/2-furlong hillside turf course, then failed to stay in one-mile stakes on turf in November, finishing third in the Pike Place Dancer at Golden Gate Fields and sixth in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante at Del Mar.
Those losses have led owner Arnold Zetcher and trainer Simon Callaghan to enter Corps de Ballet in an optional claimer at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita on Friday.
“We’ve been anxious to get her back down the hill,” Callaghan said. “The mile was just stretching her stamina.”
Corps de Ballet is one of two stakes-placed runners in a field of 10 3-year-old fillies in Friday’s seventh race. Decked Out was third in the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga last July. Friday’s race will be the turf debut for Decked Out.
KEY CONTENDERS
Corps de Ballet (Last 3 Beyers: 68-77-84)
◗ Corps de Ballet will be ridden by Tyler Baze, who was aboard for the maiden-race win in October.
◗ By Speightstown, Corps de Ballet is naturally fast, which makes a hillside turf race a good fit, Callaghan said.
“This is certainly this filly’s game,” he said. “She’s always shown a lot of speed. For the time being, we’ll be sticking down the hill. She’s best when she’s left to break and run. We’ll be close to the pace. It’d be nice to win this and we can get her back into stakes races.”
Spicy Blonde (Beyers: 65-18)
◗ Spicy Blonde will challenge Corps de Ballet for the lead. Trained by Wesley Ward, Spicy Blonde was seventh at Kentucky Downs in her debut in September but rebounded to win her second start, a five-furlong turf race for maidens at Gulfstream Park West on Oct. 12.
◗ Spicy Blonde, also by Speightstown, has not raced since the maiden win and has been based at Santa Anita since late December.
Jeremy’s Legacy (Beyers: 67-77)
◗ Jeremy’s Legacy, imported from Ireland last fall, raced twice at Del Mar in the final 10 days of November, winning a maiden race Nov. 21 and finishing seventh at 7-2 in the Durante Stakes a week later. She was near the front in the Durante but faded in the final furlong.
◗ Trained by Doug O’Neill, Jeremy’s Legacy is likely to race as a stalker. Rafael Bejarano, who was aboard for the maiden win, has the mount.
Compel (U.S. debut)
◗ Compel is the only two-time winner in the field, having won twice in England last year. Now trained by Richard Baltas, Compel beat maidens in a five-furlong turf race in July at Beverley, a track with a testing uphill finish.