Fillies in Anoakia share spotlight with Honor A. P.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Although the best 2-year-old running Saturday at Santa Anita might be a colt in a maiden race, the biggest purse is for juvenile fillies in a stakes race.

Honor A. P. makes his eagerly anticipated second start in a maiden race with as much appeal, at least from a sporting perspective, as the $75,000 Anoakia Stakes. Honor A. P. finished super in his runner-up debut, has trained exceptionally well since for John Shirreffs, and should relish two turns in the third race.

While the colt goes from six furlongs to a mile, the filly Shedaresthedevil benefits from a shorter distance and an equipment change in the Anoakia. The likely favorite, she faces Pure Xena, Buyer’s Remorse, Leucothea, Bella Renella, and Eclair in the seventh race.

Shedaresthedevil set the pace and faded to fourth last out as the favorite in the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf. Perhaps a mile was beyond her preferred trip, or maybe she was not trying as hard as in her first two starts in dirt sprints – a maiden win and a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes.

Simon Callaghan trains Shedaresthedevil, who will wear blinkers for the first time in a race. “We just felt she was going through the motions a little bit,” Callaghan said, adding the blinkers are “just to sharpen her up a little bit. She breezed a bit better in them.”

Her chances took a hit at the post draw, however. Shedaresthedevil drew the inside post. “You wouldn’t have chosen that post, obviously,” Callaghan said. But he also noted that Shedaresthedevil “has overcome that before.”

In her debut at Churchill Downs for trainer Norm Casse, Shedaresthedevil broke slowly from the rail, raced inside and behind runners while hard held taking dirt, angled out for room, and rolled by more than three lengths. She subsequently was transferred to Callaghan in California.

The pace scenario could be beneficial for Shedaresthedevil. Front-runners Leucothea and Pure Xena are expected to smoke early. Leucothea is naturally fast, while Pure Xena is expected to produce more speed than she did last out in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante.

Brian Koriner trains Pure Xena, and in hindsight, Koriner believes it was a mistake to instruct her rider to sit behind the speed. Pure Xena, who won her debut on the lead, did not respond to rating tactics and finished sixth.

Pure Xena also is adding blinkers. “Her last two works, she’s more aggressive with them,” Koriner said. “Her last two works have been really good.”