Ganadora shoots for first stakes score in Dark Mirage

Ganadora’s unbeaten record ended when she finished a quiet fourth in her third start in the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita in June.

Three months later, Ganadora will have her second appearance in a stakes, with a much less lofty goal. Ganadora is part of a field of seven in Sunday’s $75,000 Dark Mirage Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile at Los Alamitos.

Purchased for $1 million as a yearling, Ganadora is one of two runners in the field for trainer Bob Baffert. Velvet Slippers, second in the 2021 Dark Mirage, will have her third appearance in a stakes this year for the high-profile stable. She was a well-beaten third in the restricted Tranquility Lake Stakes for fillies and mares at Del Mar on Sept. 5.

“This is a softer spot and I can build up their confidence,” Baffert said on Friday. “I want to get some black type.”

Ganadora, who is by Quality Road, may be Baffert’s best chance. Owned by Charles and Susan Chu, Ganadora has worked quickly for her comeback, notably six furlongs in 1:13.60 at Del Mar on Monday.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets.

Baffert said he hoped to give Ganadora a start at the end of the Del Mar summer meeting, which ended last weekend.

“There was no place to run her at Del Mar,” he said. “We’re trying to win some races.”

There are a few fillies and mares among the opposition capable of beating the Baffert pair.

The lone stakes winner in the Dark Mirage field is Empire House, who won the California Governor’s Cup for fillies and mares at six furlongs at Sacramento on July 23, but was a well-beaten fourth in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 28.

Trained by Jonathan Wong, Empire House drew the inside in the Dark Mirage and is likely to race near the front.

Cover Version, third in the Rancho Bernardo after a troubled start and a wide trip, starts from post 6 and can be a factor from off the pace.

A winner of 5 of 40 starts, Cover Version is winless in four starts since an allowance race on turf at Turf Paradise in March. The four recent losses have been in graded stakes in Southern California.

A class drop may lead to a first stakes win.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she wins this race,” trainer Reed Saldana said.

“I like her in this race. I like the distance. She’s run well here and she trains here. I think there will be enough pace for us to close well.”

Saldana said the 7-year-old Cover Version is scheduled to be sold as a broodmare prospect in Kentucky in November and will have her second to last start for him in the Dark Mirage.

The Dark Mirage is the stakes debut for Trouville, a good second in an allowance race at a mile for fillies and mares at Del Mar on Sept. 5 for trainer Leonard Powell.