Desormeaux-trained debut runner looks set to deliver

ARCADIA, Calif. – If you can’t beat them, buy them. And if you can’t beat them short, try to beat them long. Either way, scores may be settled in races 5 and 6 on Friday at Santa Anita.

Stella Noir would provide trainer Keith Desormeaux with respectful revenge if she wins her career debut in race 5. The filly is the first foal from Guadalupe High, a Louisiana-bred stakes winner and longtime nemesis to Desormeaux.

Guadalupe High defeated Desormeaux-trained stakes winner Tensas Harbor in five straight meetings at Delta Downs and Fair Grounds in 2012 and 2013 before Tensas Harbor finally won a race that included Guadalupe High.

“Tensas Harbor was very, very nice,” Desormeaux said, referring to his six-time stakes winner. By association, so was five-time stakes winner Guadalupe High, who was in foal to Stay Thirsty when she was offered for sale as a broodmare prospect in 2018.

Desormeaux was seeking mares for Texas Red, his 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner, and Exaggerator, who he trained to win the 2016 Preakness, Haskell, and Santa Anita Derby. Guadalupe High, who won eight races and $403,098 from 20 starts, fit the bill.

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“She was physically appealing, and very successful on the racetrack,” Desormeaux said. “I was looking for horses to breed to Texas Red and Exaggerator and knew she wouldn’t bring much being that she was in foal to Stay Thirsty, and that the money she accumulated was all in restricted company.”

Guadalupe High, carrying then-unnamed filly Stellar Noir, sold for $30,000. In hindsight, it looks like a bargain. Stellar Noir has trained exceptionally well for her Friday debut, including her final drill Saturday. She and jockey Edwin Maldonado blew past two modest workers on the turn and coasted in 59.20 seconds, the fastest five-furlong work of the day.

A handicapping dilemma Friday focuses on Desormeaux, whose five-year win rate with first-time starters is 8 percent (13 for 163).

“I don’t like to hone on them,” he explained. “I pretty much solidified my reputation as a trainer whose maidens” race into shape.

“But this one’s different,” he said. Stella Noir “is much fitter than most of my first-time starters. As long as she breaks well and is not overwhelmed, then we should be in business.”

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Stella Noir breaks from the outside post at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Stellar Noir’s main rival is Jonathan Wong-trained second-time starter Just Distorted, whose runner-up debut as the 1.30-1 favorite disappointed backers. But she actually ran well under Ricky Gonzalez. She was hard-held inside, took dirt, and finished evenly in what amounted to a positive educational run.

The eight-filly field for race 5 also includes front-runner Stressed and first-time starter Lady Aces.

Race 6 on Friday, an entry-level allowance for California-bred fillies at a mile on turf, offers Big Beauty a chance to even the score with Disko Fever. They met Jan. 17 in a maiden turf sprint, and Disko Fever led gate to wire while Big Beauty finished a troubled second in her career debut.

Cliff Sise trains Big Beauty, who stretched to a mile for her second start and dominated maidens. She made an early move on the far turn, opened up by four lengths, and coasted home by 1 3/4 lengths under Flavien Prat, who rides her again Friday.

“For just having two races, to win a mile race the way she did it, I thought that was pretty impressive,” Sise said.

Her jockey also was impressed and expects her to improve now that he knows her. After the maiden win, Prat said to Sise: “She’ll be better next time.”

However, Big Beauty can only win if she catches likely pacesetter Disko Fever, who followed her second-start maiden win with another front-running victory in a starter-allowance turf sprint. Disko Fever broke last of 10, rushed to the lead, and kept going.

Richard Baltas trains Disko Fever, whose challenge is stretching her speed two turns.

“I think she gets the distance; she does not look like a sprinter,” Baltas said. “And I haven’t seen her slowing down yet.”

Mario Gutierrez rides Disko Fever. Other entrants include Lasix-on class-dropper Super Game, stretch-out Michalska, Big Stretch, and St Helena.

The Friday card begins and ends with split divisions of a turf mile for California-bred maiden 3-year-olds. Second-time starter Cargo, runner-up first out, figures to be heavily favored in race 1. Race 8 is the weaker split, with front-runners Circleofchampions and Standing O.

The highest-class race Friday is race 4, a second-level allowance turf sprint. Front-runner Thanks Mr. Eidson could be long gone, if he holds off closers Ghoul and Commander.