Hill-loving The Wild Grazer looks best in Mizdirection

ARCADIA, Calif. – None of the female turf sprinters entered in the Mizdirection Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita can compare yet to the horse-for-course the race is named for, but The Wild Grazer is on her way.

“She’s a down-the-hill specialist,” trainer Jeff Mullins noted, and at age 4 is “a bigger, more mature filly.” The Wild Grazer is also the most probable winner of the $100,000 Mizdirection, a 6 1/2-furlong turf race named after the two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner who went 6 for 6 on the Santa Anita hill.

The Wild Grazer seeks her third hillside win, and first career stakes, in her second start of the season Saturday. Her rivals include Lucky Girl, Getthemoney, Miss Lizzy, and Chismosa. A key obstacle facing late-runner The Wild Grazer is the pace scenario.

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A conspicuous lack of speed benefits likely pacesetter Getthemoney and jockey Juan Hernandez, who planned to ride Muth on Saturday in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Muth scratched, and Hernandez stayed home. His mount Getthemoney looks like the speed of the Mizdirection.

Brian Koriner trains Getthemoney, third in the Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes last out on the hill. The filly previously won an entry-level hillside allowance and will make her third start of the season Saturday. Getthemoney and The Wild Grazer are the only Mizdirection entrants with wins on the hill.

Despite a possibly tepid pace, The Wild Grazer appears the one to beat. Stakes-placed twice last year, she is fresh and moving up from a second-level allowance win in March. “That was kind of a jumping-off point,” Mullins said. “Geovanni [Franco] rode her perfectly. Down the hill, she just kind of cruises along, and finishes.”

The Wild Grazer, who raced once in Ireland before arriving in the United States for owner Tim Cohen, has won three races and $173,398 from nine starts. She could try stretching back to a mile this summer at Del Mar. Meanwhile on Saturday, the main rival for The Wild Grazer is cutting back in distance this season.

A three-time stakes winner at a mile on turf, Lucky Girl shortened to a hillside sprint last time in the Grade 3 Monrovia. Her winning chance was compromised by a strange moment at the dirt crossing.

“The rider said she got really confused crossing the dirt, and made a right [turn] instead of a left,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “And then she still kind of sustained her run before she flattened out a little bit.”

Lucky Girl, fourth in the Monrovia, makes her second hillside start Saturday and will rally late under new rider Hector Berrios.

D’Amato also entered Adaay In Asia. Her rider is Joe Talamo, who has returned to California from Kentucky. Miss Lizzy, the Monrovia runner-up, shortens back to one turn after faltering in a Grade 3 turf mile. Antonio Fresu is her rider.

Chismosa is the most accomplished in the Mizdirection; she has won three stakes and $429,750 from 16 starts. Kyle Frey rides Chismosa. Selenaia and Rebalation also are entered.

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