Lady Eli likely headed to Santa Anita for Gamely

ELMONT, N.Y. - Lady Eli, the popular multiple Grade 1-winning turf mare, will likely make her next start in the Grade 1, $300,000 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita on May 27, trainer Chad Brown said Sunday morning.

Brown said the likelihood of catching firm ground and the 1 1/8-mile distance of the race are the reasons why he’s interested in shipping her west. He also likes the spacing between that race and the Grade 1 Diana, scheduled for July 22 at Saratoga.

“She’s not definite, but she’s likely to go to the Gamely,” Brown said.

Lady Eli won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita in 2014 and was second in the Filly and Mare Turf last fall.

With the Belmont turf unavailable for workouts until Tuesday, Brown elected to work Lady Eli on the dirt Monday. She went a half-mile in 48.20 seconds over the main track in company with New Money Honey, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner.

Brown has a bevy of filly and mare turf horses for whom he is trying to plot out a schedule. Dacita, second, beaten a head by Hawksmoor in Saturday’s Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes, will join Sea Calisi, the Sheepshead Bay winner, in the Grade 2, $500,000 New York Stakes at Belmont Park on June 9. Last year, Dacita and Sea Calisi ran one-two in the New York.

Brown is not sure where Rainha Da Bateria, fourth, beaten one length in the Beaugay, will make her next start. Last year, she ran in the Just a Game, but the mile distance was too short for her, Brown said.

Brown did like the efforts both Dacita and Rainha Da Bateria gave forth in the Beaugay, run over a rain-soaked yielding turf course.

“Rainha had a really rough trip. If she could have had more of a clear run she could have been right there,” Brown said. “Dacita ran really well on turf she didn’t care for and stilly nearly won.”

Hawksmoor, who led every step of the way and did hold off Dacita to win the Beaugay, will be pointed to the Grade 1 Just a Game here on June 10, trainer Arnaud Delacour said Sunday from Fair Hill, Md.

“She ran well enough to me to be able to be competitive,” Delacour said.

Hawksmoor earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure for her Beaugay victory.