Lady Truffles returns in Fleet Treat

DEL MAR, Calif. - Few people were more eager to get to Del Mar this summer than trainer John Sadler, whose Hollywood Park meeting was far below his standards. The fresh start afforded by moving here coincides with the return to action of Lady Truffles, last year's California Cup Juvenile Fillies winner, who will make her first start since November on Saturday in the $100,000 Fleet Treat Stakes.

The Fleet Treat, at seven furlongs for California-bred 3-year-old fillies, is the eighth race on a 10-race card that is topped by the Grade 1 John C. Mabee Handicap. It drew a field of 11, including stakes winners Cee's Irish, Short Route, and Thrilling Victory, and the rapidly improving Soldier's Kiss.

lone win in five starts last year came in the 1 1/16-mile Cal Cup Juvenile Fillies, but she finished second in all three of her sprints last year, including her debut at Del Mar.

"She's been off because we had to take a little flake out of her left front ankle," Sadler said at his barn Thursday morning. "Coming back, she's been training really well. I've got some pretty good training into her. She's doing great, and she likes the track. I think she'll run well."

Sadler was just 6 for 87 at Hollywood Park.

"A terrible meet for me," he said. Sadler was 12 for 63 last year at Del Mar.

Lady Truffles prefers to come from off the pace, so she will have to hope for a hot pace. She does benefit by getting in with 117 pounds, eight fewer than Cee's Irish and six fewer than Soldier's Kiss and Short Route.

is turning back to a sprint after a steady diet of two-turn races that has taken the locally based filly to Fair Grounds, Prairie Meadows, and Sunland Park this year. She was third in the Hollywood Breeders' Cup Oaks and second in the Iowa Oaks in her last two starts.

captured the Railbird Stakes at Hollywood Park on May 1. She scored a 52-1 upset in her debut at this track last summer.

Thrilling Victory is back on the main track after three straight grass races, which included a victory in the Bay Meadows Oaks.

Soldier's Kiss, trained by Bruce Headley, had a sensational Hollywood Park meeting, where she won three straight races.