La Canada a good spot for Spiced Perfection to try two turns

ARCADIA, Calif. – Reconstruction of the California distaff division resumes Saturday at Santa Anita, though the overhaul might be temporary.

Missing from the $200,000 La Canada Stakes are Grade 1 route winner Ollie’s Candy and soon-to-route Grade 1 sprint winner Hard Not to Love, whose absence provides the sprinter Spiced Perfection an ideal opportunity to stretch her speed two turns.

The recent downgrade of the La Canada to Grade 3 suits the modest lineup for the mile and a sixteenth race. Spiced Perfection is a Grade 1 sprint winner unproven around two turns, Queen Bee to You won a Grade 3 last out in her 32nd start, and Horologist won a five-runner Grade 3 at Monmouth Park.

The eight-runner field is not deep, but it will suffice until Santa Anita’s next graded route for fillies and mares on dirt – the Grade 1 Beholder Mile on March 14. Hard Not to Love and First Star, first and fourth in the La Brea, will return in the Beholder. Ollie’s Candy has returned to the track to prepare for a spring comeback.

As for the La Canada, the race is history if Spiced Perfection stays the trip. A two-time Grade 1 winner at seven furlongs, with the field’s highest speed figures and a facile recent win in a one-turn Grade 3 at Aqueduct, Spiced Perfection might be a standout.

Peter Miller trains Spiced Perfection, who benefits from a speed-friendly track profile and murky pace scenario. Spiced Perfection and Joel Rosario will be forwardly placed. Spiced Perfection is likely to return to seven furlongs for the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes on Feb. 15.

The pace in the La Canada could be quicker than expected if Der Lu or Message employ speed. Neither of the Bob Baffert trainees is a top contender, but both are capable of influencing the pace. That would be fine for late-runner Queen Bee to You.

Andrew Lerner and Queen Bee to You have come a long way in a short time. The 30-year-old trainer has grown his stable from 14 horses last January to 40 now. Queen Bee to You, eligible for a first allowance condition a year ago, has emerged as a do-it-all with three stakes wins in her last six starts.

“She can run short, she can run long, she can run turf or dirt,” Lerner said. “It’s unbelievable.”

Lerner and jockey Ruben Fuentes deserve credit for rationing her speed. “I wanted to teach her to relax a little bit, I think that’s really helped her.”

It helped last time. Queen Bee to You rallied from last to win the Grade 3 Bayakoa at Los Alamitos. The question facing Queen Bee to You in the La Canada – can her rally be as effective over the speed-friendly surface at Santa Anita?

The race-8 La Canada also includes Zusha, Kaydetre, and Starr of Quality. In race 3 Saturday, filly-mare turf sprinters contest the Grade 3 Las Cienegas. Jolie Olimpica, an undefeated Group 1 winner from Brazil, will make her U.S. debut.