Keri Belle points to Buena Vista

ARCADIA, Calif. – Keri Belle, who won her first stakes in Monday’s Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes at Santa Anita, is likely to run in the $200,000 Buena Vista Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf Feb. 20.

“That would be the most logical spot,” trainer John Shirreffs said on Thursday.

Keri Belle, a 6-year-old by Empire Maker, has won 4 of 12 starts and earned $229,030 for owners and breeders Jerry and Ann Moss. Shirreffs said that Keri Belle was slow to mature earlier in her career and at times had difficulty maintaining weight. The Megahertz was Keri Belle’s second appearance in a stakes; she was 11th in the Grade 3 Athenia Stakes at Belmont Park last October.

In the Megahertz, Keri Belle closed from ninth to win by a nose over Stormy Lucy, the winner of the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar in November.

Keri Belle paid $27.80. Her win in the Megahertz reflected the open nature of California’s older turf female division around two turns. Since the start of 2015, 13 fillies or mares have won the graded stakes around two turns on turf for the division at Del Mar and Santa Anita.