Love and Peace gets class relief in allowance
ARCADIA, Calif. – A slow start prevented Love and Peace from a chance at a stakes placing in her American debut in the Lady of Shamrock Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26. A French import, Love and Peace finished fourth, 3 1/2 lengths behind winner Amandine, and was beaten a half-length for third.
Love and Peace, a winner of two races from 10 starts in France, had been in the United States for less than two weeks.
“I like the way she ran,” trainer Neil Drysdale said last weekend. “She ran off the plane.”
A month later, Love and Peace drops in class when she starts in a $67,000 allowance race for 4-year-old fillies at a mile on turf in Friday’s first race at Santa Anita. The distance and the age classification appeal to Drysdale.
“We went for this because it’s a mile,” he said.
There is no restriction in the allowance race. It is open to all 4-year-old fillies and drew a field of seven. All of the fillies have some stakes experience, with varying levels of success. Love and Peace was second in a minor stakes on the synthetic surface at Deauville, France, on Nov. 27 in her final start in that country.
Travieza won the Unzip Me Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the hillside turf course last September and was third in an optional claimer on the hillside on Jan. 4. Kelly’s Humor won the Ellis Park Debutante in August 2017, and was eighth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs last May and third in the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga last August.
KEY CONTENDERS
Love and Peace, by Linngari
Last 3 Beyers: 85-NA-NA
◗ Owned by Ken Baca, Burt and Jane Bacharach, and Alice Bamford, Love and Peace won consecutive starts in June and July in France in seven-furlong turf races. She first beat claimers at Saint-Cloud, then won an allowance at Lion d’Angers.
◗ In the Lady of Shamrock Stakes, Love and Peace was last of eight before closing steadily on the inside. Joel Rosario has the mount on Friday, replacing Flavien Prat, who is traveling to Gulfstream Park to ride Saturday’s program.
Kelly’s Humor, by Midnight Lute
Last 3 Beyers: 74-78-72
◗ Friday’s race will be the turf debut for Kelly’s Humor, who races for Dawn and Ike Thrash. Kelly’s Humor joined trainer Peter Miller’s stable last fall, and was sixth in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs on Dec. 26 in her California stakes debut.
◗ Kelly’s Humor has yet to win beyond seven furlongs, but was second in the Grade 2 Pocahontas Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs in September 2017.
Travieza, by Into Mischief
Last 3 Beyers: 77-71-89
◗ Travieza is likely to set the pace in a race in which many runners tend to race as stalkers or closers.
◗ Trained by Doug O’Neill, Travieza set a scorching pace on the hillside on Jan. 4 and was beaten 3 1/2 lengths after fading in the final furlong.
