Got an Itch sharp for Sales Stakes

PHOENIX - They competed in the sales ring here a year ago and on Saturday they'll knock heads on the track. Two divisions of the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association Fall Sales Stakes for 2-year-olds, one each for males and females, highlight the Turf Paradise card. The $79,691 filly division, which goes as race 7 on the nine-race program, drew a field of 11. The $76,982 colt and gelding division (race 8) has a field of 12. Both are at six furlongs.

Got an Itch, owned by Just for Fun Farms LLC and trained by Molly Pearson, is in top form for the filly division of the ATBA Sales Stakes. A romping maiden win at Golden Gate in the spring was followed by a pair of stakes seconds at Pleasanton and Golden Gate in the summer. She was off for nearly two months, came back here for her Oct. 2 trial for this race, and romped home by 10 3/4 lengths at 3-5 with a 63 Beyer.

Tulelake won her debut here April 17 but then blew the start in the May 3 ATBA Sales Stakes here and ran sixth. She wasn't seen again until her Oct. 2 trial, and she drew away to win by 4 3/4 lengths at even money with a 42 Beyer.

Espresso Springs, owned by Double Kee LLC and trained by Jacque Guerra, went into his trial for the colt and gelding division off two big wins in the spring here, including the May 3 ATBA Sales Stakes. He went off at 1-5 in the trial, but dueled for the lead with Stockton Pass and came up a neck shy of that rival. He may have needed the race, because it was his first start since his May 3 win.

Stockton Pass was a maiden going into that Oct. 2 trial and returns to face Espresso Springs again.

R El Jefe came here from Canterbury after three runner-up efforts to start his career there this summer. He sure took to his new surroundings and to blinkers being added, as he finished smartly to win his Oct. 2 trial going away.

Night Invite and Napili Point, second and third to R El Jefe Oct. 2, are back for more. Night Invite won two races in the spring, and his second-place finish to R El Jefe was his first race in three months.

Napili Point was the 7-10 favorite for that Oct. 2 division off two wins at Yavapai in the spring, including a stakes win. In his first run in over three months, he stalked the pace in the trial and lacked a stretch punch. He put in a bullet Oct. 10 work here of 46.60 for a half-mile.