Faiza, Justique have plenty to prove in Las Virgenes

ARCADIA, Calif. – If a muddled division gains clarity Saturday at Santa Anita, it will be a surprise, because one thing California 3-year-old fillies do well is dash hopes.

Faiza and Justique are guilty of setting the bar too high with powerful debuts that hinted at fame. Turns out, expectations were too high. Faiza dazzled in her sprint debut and was odds-on in the two-turn Grade 1 Starlet at Los Alamitos. She won by only a head with an ordinary 77 Beyer.

Justique scored a smashing debut victory in summer, and she subsequently won a stakes, but she also missed two starts with illness, misfired in her only route, and might be best as a closing sprinter.

Yes, Faiza and Justique have plenty to prove Saturday in the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes, race 2 at one mile. The six-runner field includes Starlet runner-up Pride of the Nile, turf stakes winner Broadway Girls, graded-placed Uncontrollable, and the maiden Sweet Trouble.

Bob Baffert, trainer of Faiza, does not disagree that Faiza’s maiden win was more impressive than her Grade 1.

“I think the second start is always the hardest, for some reason,” he said. Faiza pressed the Starlet pace, but could not shake away from runner-up Pride of the Nile and won by only a head. Faiza may have run better than looks.

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“She actually had a little fever the next day,” Baffert said. “She spiked a little temperature. She was fighting off a bug.” Baffert kept her at Los Alamitos extra days before she returned to Santa Anita. She bounced back.

Ramon Vazquez will ride Faiza, who worked five furlongs from the gate Jan. 20 in company with Arabian Lion. Baffert said the team gate work was “to sharpen her up.” Faiza will be forwardly placed Saturday chasing likely pacesetter Broadway Girls.

Justique won impressively first out in July at Del Mar, then got sick and missed the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante. Her second start was in early October, a mile and a sixteenth in the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita. She finished a distant third.

“We didn’t really have the necessary works in her for that race,” trainer John Shirreffs said. “We were hoping she could just do it herself.”

Shirreffs regrouped and shortened Justique to seven furlongs for the Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar. She rallied from last to win by more than two lengths. Shirreffs and jockey Victor Espinoza believe two turns is within range, but Justique enters the Las Virgenes off another missed start.

She entered the Grade 3 Santa Ynez, scheduled for Jan. 1. The race was postponed to Jan. 8, and Justique got sick in the interim. She scratched. On Saturday, she faces the same dilemma she did in autumn – two turns after missing a start.

“It’s going to be up to [Justique] now,” Shirreffs said. “It’s not ideal with all the time the track has been closed. We haven’t gotten the gallops we’d really like to have. But she looks good.”

Justique worked a solid five furlongs in company one week ago. She breaks from the outside post and enters with the field’s top figure, an 81 Beyer winning the seven-furlong Desi Arnaz.

Doug O’Neill entered Pride of the Nile and turf stakes winner Broadway Girls. Before her Starlet runner-up, Pride of the Nile’s three starts were on turf. O’Neill acknowledged running well on the main track at Los Alamitos does not ensure a similar performance on dirt at Santa Anita.

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“Sometimes, Los Al races, you get grass horses that run well there, so the jury’s probably still out on her,” O’Neill said. Pride of the Nile’s fast recent works on the training track tempers concern. “She’s a high-energy filly that just wants to beat you, made more like a colt than a filly,” O’Neill said.

Juan Hernandez rides her back.

Broadway Girls wired the Blue Norther Stakes on turf last out. “She’ll definitely be on the front end,” O’Neill said. “She’s in good form right now, and there are not a ton of turf opportunities.”

Edwin Maldonado rides Broadway Girls.

Uncontrollable, third in the Starlet and second in the Chandelier, will rally late. Trainer Michael McCarthy believes she wants farther than one mile. Sweet Trouble entered the Las Virgenes out of necessity. She sprinted twice and wants to run long, but a maiden route race did not fill.

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