Drysdale hoping 2020 will be kinder to La Sardane

ARCADIA, Calif. – The 2019 season is best forgotten for La Sardane, the 6-year-old mare who is scheduled to have her first start of 2020 in Monday’s Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes at Santa Anita.

La Sardane was fourth in the 2019 Megahertz and was involved in a frightening two-horse spill in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on the hillside turf course last March. Arms Runner suffered a fatal injury while racing in front of La Sardane, who was unable to avoid her fallen rival.

Fortunately, La Sardane emerged from the incident without a significant injury. Trainer Neil Drysdale described her as “bruised” after the race.

La Sardane, a three-time stakes winner owned by Team Valor International, was given a lengthy rest through the summer and early spring, resuming workouts in early August. She started twice in the fall in one-mile turf stakes, finishing fifth in her comeback race in the restricted Swingtime Stakes here in October and seventh in the restricted Kathryn Crosby Stakes at Del Mar in November.

In the Crosby, La Sardane disputed the pace through the first half-mile and faded through the final furlong.

“She found herself on a hot pace,” Drysdale recalled Friday.

The loss ended any plans for a start in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes there Dec. 1. Instead, the focus has shifted to 2020 and the $100,000 Megahertz Stakes at a mile on turf. In recent weeks, La Sardane has had a steady pattern of workouts leading to Monday’s race.

“I’m very pleased,” Drysdale said.

Drysdale was reflecting on La Sardane’s recent exercise, but he could easily have been referring to her overall presence in his stable after the frightening incident last spring.

Bred in France, La Sardane has won 5 of 17 starts and earned $340,073. She has a chance Monday to end a six-race losing streak dating back to the Perfect Sting Stakes at a mile on turf at Belmont Park in June 2018 and build toward the rest of her 2020 season.

“Hopefully, she’ll race through the year,” Drysdale said.

The Megahertz Stakes contenders include Brill, who won the Lady of Shamrock Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on turf Dec. 28 in her debut on the surface; Take These Chains, who was second in the My Charmer Stakes at Gulfstream Park in December; and the rapidly improving Carressa, easy winner of an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option at a mile on dirt at Del Mar in November. The Megahertz Stakes will be Carressa’s stakes debut.

Mucho Unusual, second in the Grade 1 American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/4 miles on turf on Dec. 28, will not start in the Megahertz and remains a candidate for the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes at a mile on turf Feb. 22, trainer Tim Yakteen said Friday.