Finest City goes long in Santa Margarita

ARCADIA, Calif. – Finest City, last year’s champion female sprinter, will stretch out to 1 1/8 miles on Saturday in the Grade 1, $400,000 Santa Margarita Stakes, the championship race of the meet for older females.

Finest City won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint here last fall and in her only start since then captured the Grade 2 Santa Monica here on Jan. 21. Both races were at seven furlongs. The Santa Margarita will be her first start at 1 1/8 miles.

Her rivals are expected to include Vale Dori, who has won four straight races, as well as Autumn Flower, Estrechada, Lady Tapit, Show Stealer, Wild at Heart, and possibly Enduring Erin and Perfect Pic.

The Santa Margarita shares the spotlight on Saturday with the $100,000 Irish O’Brien Stakes, for older female California-bred sprinters going about 6 1/2 furlongs on the downhill turf course. Enola Gray and Smoove It, first and second in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint on Jan. 28, were among those expected, along with Bert’s Melody, Chaulk O Lattey, Desert Steel, Desiresoftheheart, Emmy and I, Late ’n Left, Lily Kai, Roo’s Valentine, and possibly Kiss At Midnight.

The $75,000 Pasadena Stakes on Sunday, for 3-year-olds at one mile on turf, was shaping up as having a large field, including Conquest Farenheit, who won the Baffle Stakes on the downhill course on Feb. 20, and Zakaroff, the upset winner of the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate on Feb. 18. Others expected to pass the entry box on Thursday were Big Sky Logan, Bird Is the Word, Calle Kingpin, Cistron, Colonel Samsen, Ky. Colonel, Reign On, Ritzy A.P., Rockin Rudy, and the unbeaten pair of Taco and Taxman’s Quest, both new to this circuit.