Mirth can expand horizons in Bayakoa Stakes

CYPRESS, Calif. – The last time the 4-year-old filly Mirth ran on dirt she finished a well-beaten second in a maiden special weight race at Delaware Park in the summer of 2017.

Two years and 13 races later, Mirth is a Grade 1 winner on turf who was sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita. Her status in California’s turf female division is established.

Sunday at Los Alamitos, Mirth will start on dirt in the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles. Success in the $100,000 race will give the Little Red Feather Racing partnership and trainer Phil D’Amato options for the 2020 season.

If there is a time to try Mirth on dirt, the Bayakoa Stakes presents a fine opportunity. Mirth is the only graded stakes winner in the field of eight.

“We’ll experiment,” D’Amato said. “She trains really well on the dirt. She has speed, and usually turf horses do well on the main track at Los Alamitos.

“It was all of those factors combined and a field that is modest. It might be worth trying.”

The field includes two other stakes winners of 2019 – Queen Bee to You, who has won two stakes for California-breds this year, and Lady Suebee, who won the restricted Tranquility Lake Stakes at Del Mar in August.

Mirth led throughout the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita in September to win the first stakes of her career. Mike Smith rode Mirth in that race and in the BC Filly and Mare Turf at the same course and distance. In the Breeders’ Cup, Mirth led to the final sixteenth before fading to finish 5 3/4 lengths behind Iridessa.

“Mike Smith, in Hall of Fame style, came to me the next day and said he could have slowed it down a little more and had more in the tank in the stretch,” D’Amato said. “I could see his point there. He rode her masterfully to win the Grade 1 prior to that.”

Smith is not riding this weekend. Edwin Maldonado will ride Mirth for the first time.

While Mirth has set the pace in her last two starts, she did win an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita last February, closing from sixth in a field of 11. A patient trip could be vital in the Bayakoa if Lady Suebee or Queen Bee to You take their customary positions near the front.

Queen Bee to You, trained by Andrew Lerner, won the Betty Grable Stakes for statebred fillies and mares at seven furlongs on Nov. 17 at Del Mar. Ridden by Ruben Fuentes, Queen Bee to You disputed the early pace before pulling clear to win by 4 1/2 lengths. Fuentes has the mount Sunday.

“I think let Ruben play the break and see where she is,” Lerner said. “This is the right spot to try to get a graded stakes-placing.”

Lady Suebee led throughout the Tranquility Lake Stakes at a mile, her most recent start on dirt.