Donna Veloce odds-on favorite in Starlet

Aside from small fields in the Grade 1 Starlet (five runners) and Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity (four), both races Saturday address a bigger issue – were the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies even relevant?

The races were important, of course, for winners Storm the Court and British Idiom. But slow times and corresponding low figures fuel the skeptical notion neither race will turn out to be productive. Storm the Court’s 87 Beyer and British Idiom’s 79 are the second-lowest winning figures for their respective BC races.

Perhaps the 2-year-old Breeders’ Cup races were just bad races. Or maybe a demanding Santa Anita surface dulled performance. It could become clear Saturday at Los Alamitos, where Juvenile runner-up Anneau d’Or and Juvenile Fillies runner-up Donna Veloce, along with third-place finishers from both races, are the first from their races to run back.

Donna Veloce enters the Starlet, race 7, as an apparent standout. She is 4-5 on Russ Hudak’s morning line, while Bast, third in the Juvenile Fillies, is 7-5. Others in the $300,000 mile and a sitxeenth race are improving maiden winner Gingham, Juvenile Fillies eighth-place K P Dreamin, and Roadrunner’s Honor.

Simon Callaghan trains Donna Veloce, who trounced maiden sprinters first out by more than nine lengths with a 91 Beyer, co-highest figure this year in her division. Second time out, Donna Veloce dove into the deep end, and missed by a neck in the Juvenile Fillies.

“She came out of the Breeders’ Cup really well; she’s not missed anytime training since,” Callaghan said. “She’s done everything equally as well as she did into the Breeders’ Cup.”

Donna Veloce relocated from Santa Anita to Los Alamitos in mid-November, and worked twice over the surface, including a five-furlong work Monday under jockey Flavien Prat. The work, slow by design, was in 1:02.20. It followed a sharp five-furlong work in 59.60 the week before.

“She’s fit,” Callaghan said.

As for the slow time of Juvenile Fillies, a mile and one-sixteenth in 1:47.07, it might suggest Donna Veloce is challenged by distance. However, it was only her second start, and it came over a deep, heavy surface. Callaghan is confident the Uncle Mo filly will carry her speed Saturday and at longer distances next spring, including the Kentucky Oaks.

“The pedigree to go a distance is there, particularly being out of a Montjeu mare, which is real European stamina,” Callaghan said. “With her pedigree and her mind, she relaxes good. She does everything right.”

Plans call for Donna Veloce to be freshened after Saturday. “I think you’ll see her back in March,” Callaghan said. The Grade 3 Santa Ysabel is March 8 at Santa Anita.

Bob Baffert trains Starlet entrants Bast and Gingham. Bast is a two-time Grade 1 winner; Gingham won a maiden race last out in the fourth race of her career.