Loaded Del Mar maiden features Don Alberto prospects

DEL MAR, Calif. – With the seven-figure yearling Matera and the homebred Stellar Sound, Don Alberto Stable have two of the leading contenders in a maiden special weight race for fillies at six furlongs on Sunday at Del Mar.

The two fillies, both by Tapit, will have the field surrounded when the race begins. Matera drew the rail, while Stellar Sound has the outside post in a field of seven.

Matera, trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, was purchased for $1.4 million at the Keeneland September yearling sale last year. She will be ridden by Mike Smith, who has been aboard for some of her recent works. Matera is a half-sister to Liam’s Map, the winner of the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

“We had a little bit of a tough draw with the one post,” Hollendorfer said. “She’s got some speed. We’re hoping she’ll run well. We’ll expect Mike to overcome our post.”

Stellar Sound, trained by Bob Baffert, is a half-sister to George Vancouver, who won the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and Saarland who won the 2001 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct. Drayden Van Dyke has the mount on a filly who may prefer longer races.

“She’s got to beat her stablemate,” Baffert said. “I’ve got a good draw.

“She’s not really quick early, but she comes running. It looks like she wants to go a distance.”

Hollendorfer also starts Sentimental, a filly by Honor Code purchased for $340,000 last September by owner Mike Stinson.

“She’s more of a route horse, and we want to get a race into her,” Hollendorfer said. “That’s not to say she won’t run well.”