Guillot has big plans for Mi Sueno

DEL MAR, Calif. - The magnificent win by Mi Sueno in Friday's $150,000 Sorrento Stakes has left trainer Eric Guillot planning to run her in a string of Grade 1 races in Southern California for 2-year-olds over the next three months.

There is a recent precedent. Last year, Stardom Bound ran in the Sorrento and followed with wins in the Del Mar Debutante, Oak Leaf Stakes, and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. She was named champion 2-year-old filly of 2008.

There is already a difference between Mi Sueno and Stardom Bound. Mi Sueno won the Sorrento by 6 1/2 lengths, while Stardom Bound was only second. Of course, Mi Sueno has much to accomplish to equal Stardom Bound, but that was not dampening Guillot's excitement.

"If I win the Debutante, she'd be worth $3 or $4 million," Guillot said. "If I skip that and wait for the Oak Leaf, she'll be coming out of her skin.

"She's a beautiful filly. I believed all along that she could be a legitimate filly among the juveniles."

Guillot described running Mi Sueno in the $300,000 Darley Debutante over seven furlongs on Sept. 5 as a "no-brainer."

"If I run against the same horses going another sixteenth, we'd win by 10," he said.

Mi Sueno won for the first time in three starts in the Sorrento, having been second in two maiden races at Hollywood Park. Ridden in the Sorrento by Michael Baze, Mi Sueno ($18.60) was fifth on the backstretch and moved closer to pacesetter Well Deserved with a wide move on the backstretch. Mi Sueno took the lead past the eighth pole, and pulled clear quickly, finishing 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.40.

"The race worked out perfectly," Baze said. "I was just waiting. You need to be quiet and real patient with her. She gets real fussy."

Necessary Evil, who won the Grade 3 Hollywood Juvenile Championship against males at Hollywood Park last month, finished second as the 4-5 favorite. Well Deserved, who set a pace of 22.19 and 45.07 seconds, finished third in the field of eight.

Mi Sueno is owned by Southern Equine Racing and was purchased as a weanling at Keeneland for $1.7 million in November 2007. She earned $90,000 for the win in the Grade 3 Sorrento.

Baze arrested for drunk driving

Hours after the Sorrento, Baze was arrested for driving while intoxicated, according to a spokeswoman with the San Diego County Sheriff's Dept.

Baze was arrested in Carlsbad, Calif., about 10 miles north of Del Mar, and was booked at 4 a.m. on Saturday and released.

Baze was expected to ride on Saturday at Del Mar, where he had five mounts. Baze, 22, was the leading rider at the Hollywood Park spring-summer and Del Mar meetings in 2007.

* Awesome Gem, second in the Grade 1 Eddie Read Stakes on July 25, will make his next start in the $300,000 Longacres Mile Breeeders' Cup Stakes at Emerald Downs on Aug. 16, trainer Craig Dollase said on Saturday. Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Awesome Gem, a 6-year-old gelding, was third in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park and has won 5 of 27 starts and $1,353,682.