The $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday marks an experiment in the career of two-time dirt stakes winner Himika. Himika has won 3 of 7 starts, including two stakes last year, but has never raced on turf. The Sweet Life is run at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course for 3-year-old fillies. “I want to see how she reacts to the turf,” trainer Bob Baffert said on Thursday. Himika will be facing several fillies who have excelled on turf in recent starts. Himika, owned by Charles and Susan Chu’s Baoma Corp., was purchased for $900,000 at the OBS 2-year-olds in-training sale last April. She was the second most expensive filly in the four-day auction. While she won the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar last August and the minor Anoakia Stakes at Santa Anita in October, Himika was last of four in the Santa Ynez Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Jan. 10 in her first start this year. :: Santa Anita Classic Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, Clocker Reports, and more. “That was a disappointing race,” Baffert said. Himika starts from post 6 in a field of 12 in the Sweet Life, by far the largest field on Saturday’s nine-race program. She is capable of setting the pace, but may follow Light Won Up, who has not raced since June. The lineup includes La Ville Lumiere, who won the Blue Norther Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Dec. 29; Yours Sincerely, winner of an allowance race at six furlongs on turf on Jan. 11; and Mohaven, winner of the Golden State Juvenile Fillies for statebred 2-year-olds at Del Mar on Oct. 31. The Sweet Life Stakes will be the first start on turf for Mohaven, who is trained by John Sadler. La Ville Lumiere has had a diverse career, winning a five-furlong maiden race on turf at Santa Anita last June. She later finished third in the Grade 2 Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 4, seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Oct. 31, and third in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes on turf at Del Mar on Nov. 29. “She can do it all,” trainer Michael McCarthy said recently. Yours Sincerely is one of two runners in the Sweet Life field trained by Phil D’Amato, including the recent maiden winner Struck By Her. Yours Sincerely ended a three-race losing streak in a one-mile turf stakes on Jan. 11. “I think she’s a logical fit,” D’Amato said. “She showed she can sprint last time at six, and I think this is an ideal distance. For the time being, I like her [in sprints.]” Struck By Her won on Jan. 11 despite sustaining bumps from the fillies drawn on each side of her. Struck By Her closed from ninth of 10 to win by a neck. “Don’t discount her,” D’Amato said. “She got annihilated at the start. I thought she won stylishly.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.