Let Faith Arise should be hard to catch in Adoration Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – The class of the field could be loose on the lead Sunday in the Grade 3 Adoration Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.

Let Faith Arise, the front-running winner of the Santa Margarita Stakes two starts back, is the only Grade 1 winner in the Adoration. To beat her, they have to catch her. Pragmatic rivals acknowledge that it will not be easy.

Craig Lewis trains the second choice, Warren’s Veneda.

“Realistically, if [Warren’s Veneda] runs her race, she could be second,” Lewis said. “You’re hoping to win, but you have to believe what you see.”

The likely scenario Sunday is that Let Faith Arise and jockey Corey Nakatani will control the pace in the 1 1/16-mile race. If she breaks well, she should be gone. She did not break well in her most recent start, the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park.

“She got out of the gate bad,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said. “It was enough to cost her a couple lengths.”

Let Faith Arise finished three lengths behind wire-to-wire winner Close Hatches. Who knows what might have happened if Let Faith Arise had broken cleanly?

A five-time winner of $410,240 from 11 starts for breeder Tommy Town Thoroughbreds, Let Faith Arise is one of three Hollendorfer entrants, along with Floral Romance and Scarlet Strike.

Although Floral Romance has never raced on dirt, Hollendorfer likes her workouts.

“She’s been training real good on dirt, and we wanted to try her there,” he said.

Mike Smith rides Floral Romance, a 3-for-11 daughter of After Market out of the graded stakes-winning dirt mare Proposed.

Hollendorfer also entered Scarlet Strike, a Grade 3 winner last year who is making her third start back.

“We’re taking a look at the race,” Hollendorfer said regarding Scarlet Strike.

Others include Grade 2 winner Spellbound, stakes winner Champagneandcaviar, stakes-placed Legacy, Yahilwa, Eblouissante, and Irish Presence.

“It’s not an easy race, but at least Beholder is not in there,” trainer Gary Mandella noted.

Mandella starts Champagneandcaviar, who benefits from a shorter distance than the 1 1/4-mile turf stakes she tried last out.

“Her form is fine. The question is whether she can go back to dirt,” Mandella said.

During her 3-year-old campaign in 2012, she won two dirt stakes at Emerald Downs. Tyler Baze rides.

Warren’s Veneda, 5 for 12, will make her second start after a five-month break due to foot problems. She finished third in a sprint stakes in her comeback.

“It was a little disappointing. Maybe she needed the race,” Lewis said. “She trained forwardly coming into the race.”

Warren’s Veneda should benefit from the longer distance of the Adoration. Her tactical speed should allow her and jockey Joe Talamo a forwardly placed trip within striking range of Let Faith Arise.

The Adoration, formerly run at Hollywood Park as the Marjorie L. Everett Handicap, leads into the Grade 1 Vanity Stakes on June 14.