Doinitthehardway, Getthemoney square off again
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ARCADIA, Calif. – Conditions are not ideal, but close enough for key entrants in the featured seventh race for 3-year-old fillies Friday at Santa Anita.
Getthemoney, an easily distracted sprint filly adding blinkers, faces Doinitthehardway, a two-turn specialist shortening to seven furlongs in the entry-level allowance. Six entered the Friday feature on a card that includes the first unrestricted 2-year-old maiden race of the meet.
Race-3 entrant She’s My Niece, the lone filly in the juvenile race, has worked like she will fire first out against four males, including fast-working Smokem Ez, Mr. Chivas, Midnight Love, and Spot D’ Oro. All five entrants are first-time starters.
Race-7 contender Getthemoney will try to start over, or at least start cleanly. It did not happen in her comeback. She broke last, unleashed a middle move, then flattened out and finished third. She lost by more than seven lengths, but her performance was admirable. Her trouble was self-caused.
“She’s a temperamental, in-season type filly who loses concentration,” trainer Brian Koriner explained. “We added blinkers this time.”
Blinkers can be added to increase focus or speed in a race. Blinkers also can provide a pre-race benefit, which is what Koriner and jockey Hector Berrios hope for Friday.
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“It’s not a matter of what [blinkers] do in a race, it’s a matter of what [blinkers] do going to the post,” Koriner said. Blinkers “cover up the rider. She can’t worry about the rider on her back, she can’t see the rider on her back. She was always looking back and not paying attention to what’s going on in front of her.”
Getthemoney, a Midnight Lute filly, who won a Del Mar maiden race by more than five lengths in her second start, has won 1 of 3 starts and is facing her nemesis a third time. Doinitthehardway finished nearly 10 lengths in front of Getthemoney the first time they met, but Getthemoney subsequently improved and defeated Doinitthehardway by eight lengths second time out.
Bob Baffert trains Doinitthehardway, whose best races have been around two turns. She won a mile maiden race by nine lengths two starts back, followed last out by a fifth-place finish as the odds-on favorite in the $300,000 Sunland Oaks.
Doinitthehardway drops in class Friday and is the fastest in the field based on her figures at around two turns. If she can reproduce her 86 Beyer Speed Figure in a maiden route win while shortening to seven furlongs, Doinitthehardway can win the Friday allowance under Juan Hernandez.
Blessed Touch drops and shortens to one turn after finishing third in a Grade 3 route. Gila set the pace last out and finished last in a Grade 2 route. Liberal Lady and In Color add speed.
◗ In the juvenile maiden sprint that is race 3 on Friday, She’s My Niece could be formidable. Beyond the filly’s fast works, trainer Doug O’Neill does well with debut juveniles racing 4 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita – he is 9 for 30 the past five years, according to DRF Formulator.
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