Iotapa begins drive to Breeders' Cup in Clement Hirsch
DEL MAR, Calif. – Iotapa ran the race of her career when she won the Grade 1 Vanity Stakes at Santa Anita in June by 10 1/4 lengths. Now all she has to do is repeat that performance in increasingly difficult races for the rest of the year.
On Saturday, Iotapa will be favored in the $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at Del Mar. There is more at stake than the first-place purse of $180,000 and Grade 1 status.
The Hirsch is part of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program, offering a fees-paid berth for the winner to the BC Distaff at Santa Anita this fall. Better yet for Iotapa, Beholder, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2013, is not part of the Hirsch field but is expected to race this fall in advance of the BC Distaff.
Beholder’s absence is not lost on Iotapa’s trainer, John Sadler.
“She’s making hay while Beholder’s not here,” Sadler said.
Iotapa will try to win her fourth stakes in the Hirsch, which is run over 1 1/16 miles on the Polytrack synthetic surface. Owned by Hronis Racing, Iotapa has won 5 of 11 starts and earned $616,796.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Iotapa. Trainer John Sadler is 1 for 9 with a $1.00 ROI over the past five years going from dirt to synthetic in routes following a winning effort.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Sadler has three of the seven entrants in the Hirsch, including the stakes winners Legacy and More Chocolate. Sadler said Thursday that he will not run all three. Legacy, who won the Cypress Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 6, is likely to be scratched in favor of the $90,000 Tranquility Lake Stakes on Aug. 31.
“Legacy is in there in case the race falls apart,” Sadler said.
Sadler said More Chocolate “probably” will run. “I want to look at the field and see how it shapes up,” he said.
More Chocolate is winless in six starts since winning the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita in January 2013. She has not raced since finishing seventh in the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes on turf at Santa Anita last November.
Two other trainers have runners in the Hirsch. Jerry Hollendorfer has three entrants – Broken Sword, Doinghardtimeagain, and Parranda – while Bob Baffert starts Fiftyshadesofhay.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 Broken Sword. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is 6 for 13 with a $4.76 ROI over the past five years at Del Mar with horses returning from a layoff of at least 180 days.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
KEY CONTENDERS
Iotapa (Last 3 Beyers: 109-74-97)
◗ Prior to her win in the Vanity, Iotapa finished last of six in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff over seven furlongs at Churchill Downs on May 3, a loss Sadler was quick to dismiss. “She got bumped at the start and got taken out of her game,” he said.
◗ Iotapa won the Railbird Stakes on a synthetic track at Hollywood Park in May 2013 but has never raced on Del Mar’s Polytrack.
“This is a different surface,” Sadler said. “She’s a stakes winner on synthetic, so I don’t think it will be a big deal. She’s always been nice and runs her race all the time.”
Doinghardtimeagain (Last 3 Beyers: 88-63-66)
◗ Doinghardtimeagain has won five stakes but was ninth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks here last summer, her only start at that level.
◗ She won the Grade 2 Great Lady M Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs at Los Alamitos on July 12, closing from fourth in a field of seven.
◗ Mike Smith was aboard for the Great Lady M and has the mount Saturday. “I think she’s ready,” Hollendorfer said. “Mike Smith could have done other things this weekend, but he stayed here to ride her.”
Broken Sword (Last 3 Beyers: 80-103-90)
◗ Broken Sword won the Grade 2 Bayakoa Stakes at Hollywood Park last December but was fifth as the 6-5 favorite in the La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 19, her most recent outing. “She didn’t have a good race, and we freshened her,” Hollendorfer said. “She’s going very well.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Fiftyshadesofhay. Trainer Bob Baffert is 5 for 33 with a $0.94 ROI over the past five years going from dirt to synthetic in graded stakes routes.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan