Gender Agenda, Sheza Smoke Show taking a shot in Matriarch

In most years, the 3-year-old fillies Gender Agenda and Sheza Smoke Show would be unlikely to run in Sunday’s $300,000 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar. Their credentials would not match those of the competition for a Grade 1 race that often has drawn top runners from across the nation and a European shipper or two.

This year, the Matriarch Stakes is worth a gamble for Gender Agenda and Sheza Smoke Show. The one-mile turf race is expected to have a small field and has not drawn any fillies or mares who are part of the conversation for the division championship.

“If I can pick up a big piece, I’d be happy,” said Peter Eurton, who trains Sheza Smoke Show for a partnership.

The Matriarch Stakes is being run at Del Mar for the first time, having previously been held at Hollywood Park, which closed last December. The race is led by two New York imports – Discreet Marq, who won the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in 2013, and La Tia, who won the Grade 3 Athenia Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 12.

Sheza Smoke Show won the Grade 3 Senorita Stakes at Santa Anita in June but is winless in her last three starts. Sheza Smoke Show was fourth in the Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

“I think she can run big one of these days,” Eurton said.

Eurton said stakes at Zia Park this week or Los Alamitos in December have less appeal for Sheza Smoke Show because they are run on dirt. Los Alamitos, which runs a December Thoroughbred meeting, does not have a turf course. In the case of Zia Park, a start there would require a lengthy van ride.

Gender Agenda was second in the restricted Kathryn Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 7, finishing 2 1/4 lengths behind Queen of the Sand, a contender for the Matriarch. Gender Agenda was considered for the Sen. Ken Maddy Stakes at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 but was pulled from the race when trainer Carla Gaines was not happy with a blood test.

Gaines said Tuesday that Gender Agenda would be entered for the Matriarch, but she stopped short of committing the filly to the race.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said. “I might end up running.”

Queen of the Sand is the leading contender among the locally based fillies. Other expected runners are Strathnaver, who was second in the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes at Santa Anita on Nov. 2, and Kadaya, who has not raced since finishing fifth in the Grade 3 The Very One Stakes at Gulfstream Park in February 2013.

Stevens back in winner’s circle

Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens had the first winner of his recent comeback from knee surgery at Del Mar last Saturday aboard Grand Yodeler in an optional claimer. The elusive win took a bit longer than expected, he said.

Stevens, who returned to riding Oct. 31 following a four-month absence for knee-replacement surgery, needed 14 mounts to reach the winner’s circle.

“I knew when I stopped riding to get the procedure done, it would be an uphill battle,” he said last Sunday.

Stevens, 51, has three mounts on Thursday’s eight-race program, including Colonel Joan in an optional claimer on turf. He could have the first stakes win of his return when Rock Shandy runs in the $150,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes for 2-year-olds on turf Sunday.