LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A year after the California-based American Gal cruised to victory in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff, the fillies Marley’s Freedom and Spiced Perfection appear poised to make it a California trend in Saturday’s renewal. They are the two favorites for the $500,000 Humana Distaff, a seven-furlong race that goes as the first of seven stakes on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs. Marley’s Freedom is 7-5 on Mike Battaglia’s morning line, followed by Spiced Perfection at 7-2. Although both have raced primarily in California, they are no strangers to travel. Marley’s Freedom scored her most prestigious victory in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga last summer, while Spiced Perfection won the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland on April 6, less than four months after winning her first Grade 1 in the La Brea on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita. Spiced Perfection, a California-bred 4-year-old filly by Smiling Tiger, remained at Keeneland after the Madison because trainer Peter Miller didn’t want to tire her out by shipping her back and forth from Kentucky to his training base at San Luis Rey Downs in Southern California. At Keeneland, she has twice breezed easy half-miles. Spiced Perfection raced forwardly in the Madison, chasing pacesetter and eventual runner-up Amy’s Challenge, who is among the five other runners in the Humana Distaff. She gradually wore down Amy’s Challenge, finishing a neck in front under Javier Castellano, who returns in the saddle Saturday. “Amy’s Challenge was the only speed and horse to beat, and we didn’t want her to get away from us,” Miller said. “It worked out, but in the Humana, it looks like more pace, so I’d expect her to show her regular style and be sitting third or fourth.” Those adding pace to the race include Mia Mischief and Talk Veuve to Me, who finished one-two as 3-year-old fillies in the Grade 2 Eight Belles on the 2018 Kentucky Oaks undercard. That day, Mia Mischief led throughout, finishing 1 3/4 lengths in front of Talk Veuve to Me. Mia Mischief has won just one of six starts since then, an allowance at Oaklawn in early March. Following that race, she ran second as the favorite in the Carousel at Oaklawn on April 6. “It wasn’t her best, but it was her second race off of a layoff,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “She’s a very aggressive horse, so I think if anything, with her not coming off a lifetime best, she is sitting on a great race.” If fast fractions unfold, that would play to the strength of the strong-finishing Marley’s Freedom, who has won five graded stakes over the past 12 months, all around one turn. Most recently, she was second in the two-turn Beholder Mile at Santa Anita on March 30, a race from which third-place Paradise Woods exited to win the Grade 2 Santa Margarita by 10 1/2 lengths last Saturday. Marley’s Freedom’s only other defeat in seven starts since joining the barn of trainer Bob Baffert last spring came when fourth at Churchill Downs in the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Slow into stride and racing wide, she finished a half-length behind upset winner Shamrock Rose, who would outpoll her for the Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter of 2018. Marley’s Freedom has recorded four breezes at Santa Anita since the Beholder Mile, including three bullets. The 30-1 longshot Spring in the Wind and 8-1 outsider Emboldened, another horse trained by Baffert, complete the field for the Madison, which goes as the sixth race at 1:13 p.m. Eastern.