Madame Cactus back fresh for Rancho Bernardo
DEL MAR, Calif. – Madame Cactus was a tired filly after she finished last of six in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita last December. The clues surfaced last fall in the weeks between her win in the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland in October and the La Brea.
“After the Raven Run, she didn’t train that well,” trainer Peter Eurton said. “She ran badly, and we backed off and gave her a freshening.”
Lately, Eurton has seen positive signs from Madame Cactus, who makes her 2014 debut in Sunday’s $150,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap for fillies and mares over 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar.
“When she works well, she runs well,” Eurton said.
Owned by Marc and Vinka Ferrell, Madame Cactus has won 3 of 7 starts and $326,050. A 4-year-old filly by Cactus Ridge, she is best when racing from off the pace, a slight concern for Eurton. He wonders whether any of the other fillies and mares in the Rancho Bernardo will challenge the expected favorite, Reneesgotzip, a four-time stakes winner trained by Peter Miller.
“It depends on whether someone goes with her,” Eurton said, looking in the direction of Miller’s stable.
Eurton and Miller have stables in adjacent barns at Del Mar.
The Rancho Bernardo will have a small field. The other projected runners are the stakes winners Amaranth, Judy the Beauty, and Sagebrush Queen.