Hammersly: Intriguing maidens kick off Monday card

Monday, May 26, preview

A change in first post to 1:30 p.m. Pacific to accommodate the likely heavy action on Santa Anita’s sister track, Gulfstream Park, and its Rainbow Pick 6.

A few interesting first-timers

The day kicks off with a 4 1/2-furlong dash for 2-year-old fillies, and there are a couple promising prospects.

Lost Bus debuts for Wesley Ward, who, of course, is well known for firing first time out with juveniles (23 percent). She’s also by Bring the Heat, who as a sire gets precocious runners. A number of his runners have come out firing for Ward. A bullet 34.40-second work here April 26 shows that there is ability. There’s also promise on the bottom side, as two of her three siblings are winners, including half-brother Hockeythehayman (4 for 5, $106,000, stakes-placed) and full brother Magoo (six wins, $115,000).

Saturday Yodeler chased the pace before finishing a well-beaten fourth (12 1/2 lengths) in her debut here May 1 but can benefit from that outing and has since posted a bullet 46.20-second work at Los Alamitos. She’s a full sister to the mare Hi Ho Yodeler (stakes winner).

Desert Steel was the 9-10 favorite in her May 8 debut here but after a duel couldn’t keep pace with impressive winner Sea Mona, finishing second. That was still an encouraging first outing, and she’s got pedigree to bolster her cause as well – five of her six siblings are winners, including Pretty Cozzy (eight wins, $218,000, stakes winner).

Pair of interesting stakes

Two stakes highlight the Memorial Day card. The first, the Grade 3 Los Angeles Handicap (race 2), came up pretty light, with just a field of five, led by Wild Dude, who won the Grade 2 Palos Verdes here Feb. 2 and was second (beaten just a nose) in the Grade 2 Potrero Grande last time out April 12. He catches a break competition-wise, as the big boys of the sprinter/miler division aren’t here for various reasons (Sahara Sky, ulcers; Big Macher, injury; Secret Circle, pointing for something else; Goldencents, eyeing the Grade 1 Met Mile at Belmont in a couple weeks).

His main stumbling block could be Super Ninety Nine, who comes back from a long layoff for Bob Baffert. The son of Pulpit hasn’t been seen since he ran third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in April 2013. His two best races were routes, but he won his debut sprinting and was second in the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue, a sprint, in November 2012 as a 2-year-old, so he handles the trip.

Emollient tries to get her groove back in the Grade 1 Gamely (race 7) at 1 1/8 miles on turf. Her success last year (won Grade 1 American Oaks, fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf here, beaten less than a length by champion Dank) stamped her as a potential beast for this division this year as a bigger, stronger 4-year-old. However, her first two starts of the year, while not bad, didn’t exactly get the pulse racing: She was fourth (behind today’s foes Stormy Lucy, Emotional Kitten, and Miss Serendipity) in the Grade 2 Santa Ana here March 16 and was third, beaten just a half-length, in the Grade 3 Doubledogdare on Keeneland’s Polytrack, which she so loves.

Trainer Bill Mott ships her in with new rider Rosie Napravnik to try to get her back on track for Grade 1 races like the Beverly D., Diana, Flower Bowl and, eventually, another shot at the BC Filly and Mare Turf here again in the fall.

Stormy Lucy, who won the aforementioned Santa Ana and the Grade 3 Santa Barbara, and Emotional Kitten, a sharp second in the Santa Ana and a good fourth in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland last month, when beaten less than a length in a blanket photo, are among her major roadblocks.

Spot play

Race 5

BOBBY Z MAN (#3, 4-1) has been sprinting exclusively, but he’s been doing it awfully well, so he’s a proven commodity on turf. Also, pedigree-wise, he should relish this slightly longer one-mile trip, as offspring of Unusual Heat handle this trip with aplomb. That sprint speed should have him prominent from the start, and he’s always shown he can beat elders (twice, in fact).