D'Amato will shorten up Excelerina in Royal Heroine

ARCADIA, Calif. – Two races into her American career, Excelerina is undefeated, but has yet to show her best effort.

That’s the point of view of trainer Phil D’Amato, who will test Excelerina in Saturday’s Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Santa Anita.

Excelerina was winless in three modest races in Ireland last year, but won a maiden special weight race by 2 1/2 lengths on Feb. 6 and an allowance race by 2 1/4 lengths on March 11. Flavien Prat rode Excelerina in those races, which were run at 1 1/8 miles.

“I think there is a lot of ability there that hasn’t been tapped in the last two races,” D’Amato said. “Flavien said he thought there was more in the tank.”

Prat will miss Excelerina’s stakes debut to ride at Keeneland, where he will spend most of April. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith has the mount on Excelerina, a 4-year-old who races for Saul Gevertz, Michael Nentwig, Jeremy Peskoff, and John Rochfort.

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Excelerina will be part of a small field in the Royal Heroine led by the D’Amato-trained Going Global, a six-time stakes winner on turf in 2021 who has not raced since December. Going Global finished sixth in the Grade 1 American Oaks on dirt in December and was given a brief vacation following that race.

Prat was the regular rider of Going Global last year, but the 4-year-old filly will be ridden by Umberto Rispoli in the $200,000 Royal Heroine.

D’Amato has two chances in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles with Ain’t Easy and Desert Dawn, who finished third and fourth in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 6.

Ain’t Easy won the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles last October, but missed the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar because of injury. Desert Dawn was third in the Chandelier and sixth in the BC Juvenile Fillies.

On Sunday, Desert Dawn and Ain’t Easy worked six furlongs in 1:13.40.

The Santa Anita Oaks field will be small and is led by Adare Manor, who was recently transferred from a suspended Bob Baffert to Tim Yakteen. Adare Manor won her stakes debut in the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes at a mile by 13 lengths on Feb. 6.

The Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, which is worth $750,000 and run at 1 1/8 miles, and the Santa Anita Oaks are the two richest races on a scheduled 12-race Saturday program that includes seven stakes. First post is noon Pacific.