Greg's Diva provides the speed, stablemate She's So Nice the stretch punch

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainers and handicappers can respectfully disagree, and the latest difference of opinion concerns the featured seventh race Friday at Santa Anita, a hillside turf sprint for allowance fillies and mares.

Phil D’Amato, trainer of distance-challenged speedster Greg’s Diva and late-runner She’s So Nice, believes 6 1/2 furlongs is fine for Greg’s Diva, though she has not won beyond five furlongs and squandered a lead in all three of her races at longer distances.

D’Amato thinks running on the hillside turf course will help Greg’s Diva get the distance Friday.

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“Speed horses going down the hill, I think the distance plays more like six furlongs, whereas if it was six and a half on the flat, I think it plays like a true six and a half,” he said.

Skeptics will quibble with D’Amato, even if Greg’s Diva could shake loose and the rails are at the outermost 30-foot setting. However, the rails-out configuration provides no statistical advantage. The past five years with the rails at the extreme setting, only 22 of 100 downhill turf sprints were won by the pacesetter.

While Greg’s Diva seems vulnerable, handicappers will agree with D’Amato on one aspect of the second-level allowance: Greg’s Diva and late-runner She’s So Nice will not get in each other’s way.

“These two fillies definitely won’t be dueling with each other,” D’Amato said. “They have different styles.”

Eight entered the allowance, with She’s So Nice the most likely winner based on her come-from-behind turf win at six furlongs on the flat in October. Other entrants include probable perfect-tripper Thrilling, the sharp Bristol Bayou, route-to-sprint Kuora, and graded stakes-placed Javanica. Spirit of Bermuda and Sensible Cat also were entered.

Even if distance is a concern for Greg’s Diva, it might be mitigated by the pace scenario. The field’s only other front-runner is Thrilling, who is expected to take back and sit second. That would leave Greg’s Diva and jockey Jessica Pyfer loose on the lead.

Meanwhile, 6 1/2 furlongs seems a perfect fit for She’s So Nice, the 18-1 upset winner Oct. 17 in her second U.S. start and following a long layoff.

That race followed a ninth-place finish in a five-furlong allowance sprint on the turf on Sept. 6 at Del Mar.

“She’d been off almost a year, so she was a little rusty,” D’Amato said. “And I don’t know if five furlongs is really what she wants to do. She’s more six, six and a half. It’s in her wheelhouse.”

Ricky Gonzalez rides She’s So Nice in the allowance, a race postponed from Dec. 31 due to wet weather. She’s So Nice has won 2 of 7; Greg’s Diva has won 2 of 9, with five runner-up finishes.

Race 8 on Friday is an appealing maiden dirt route for 3-year-old fillies. Highly regarded 3-year-old fillies Miss Everything and Micro Share stretch from sprints to one mile, and both are likely to improve at the longer distance.

Given the depleted state of the 3-year-old filly division, the maiden race is significant. Miss Everything and debut third Micro Share look evenly matched, though with two starts under her belt including a sharp second, Miss Everything holds the advantage.

Trainer Keith Desormeaux is bullish on the Tiznow filly, who will be ridden Friday by his brother Kent.

“As usual, I’m overexcited,” he said. “She leans toward Tiznow physically – big, rangy, with a lumbering stride. But the reason why we love her so much is this big, rangy [filly] also has speed.

“What’s she going to do when she gets to go long, and gets to settle? We think she’s a good horse.”

Miss Everything finished fifth in her debut, and improved a ton next out while chasing a hot pace and being trapped inside with no room to get out. Under the circumstances, she ran super. Desormeaux considered skipping a condition and stretching out the maiden filly in the Grade 3 Las Virgenes at a mile on Feb. 6.

“My plan was her next race was going to be the Las Virgenes, just because I like the timing better,” Desormeaux said. “This is back a little quicker, but how do you pass up [a maiden race]? She should be good to go. Kent loves her.”

Micro Share also should improve after a better-than-looked third-place debut. She broke slowly, raced greenly while climbing, and finished with run.

“She looked like a filly that wants to go farther and trains that way,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “I think this [mile distance] should help her. She’s a big, growing, good-looking filly.”

Following her late-November debut, Micro Share had her training interrupted by a cough from which she quickly recovered, and then wet weather.

“She missed a few days, but no big deal,” Mandella said. “I expect her to run big.”

Mike Smith rides Micro Share, by Upstart. All six entrants are stretching out for the first time. The others are Adare Manor, Muy Chistosa, Sweet Heidelberg, and Indy’s Star.