Misirlou faces stiff challenge in California Governor's Handicap

Trainer Steve Specht says the 3-year-old filly Misirlou has basically done everything asked of her. But on Saturday, he’ll ask her the biggest question of her young career as she makes her stakes debut in the $50,000-added California Governor’s Handicap at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton.

The six-furlong race is usually run at the California State Fair, but dates for that meet have been transferred to Pleasanton for this summer.

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The first stakes start is always a step up for runners, and Misirlou finds herself in a very salty field against older fillies and mares. All five of her rivals have six-figure bankrolls.

Misirlou won three of her four starts last year at 2, ending the season with two optional-claiming wins at Golden Gate Fields. Her only loss was a second-place finish in her debut, which Specht said can be attributed to traffic trouble.

“She probably should have won her first start, but the winner was all over the track and bothered her,” Specht said.

Misirlou ran third in her only race this year, going 5 1/2 furlongs against fillies and mares May 31 at Golden Gate.

“She got a little tired,” Specht said. “I knew going in she probably wasn’t 100 percent.”

Misirlou won’t be short for Saturday’s race, Specht said. She has five works since her race, including five- and six-furlong bullets and a second-of-64 five-furlong work in 1:00.40 last Saturday.

“I put it to her,” Specht said of the solid works heading into the race.

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Three of Misirlou’s rivals are stakes winners, including Mother of Dragons, who beat her as the odds-on favorite in that May 31 optional-claiming race. Mother of Dragons, who did not race in 2019, won the six-furlong Camilla Urso at Golden Gate Fields in 2018.

Princess Vivian won the six-furlong Bear Fan at Golden Gate last December, and Blue Diva won the 1 1/16-mile Miss America at Golden Gate last December.

Left Alone ran seventh in her stakes debut in the May 30 Camilla Urso on turf after winning her previous two starts.

Biddy Duke, the only other 3-year-old filly in the race, set the pace before running third in the Angels Flight on June 13 at Santa Anita.

Both Mother of Dragons and Princess Vivian have bullet works heading into the race.

Princess Vivian makes her dirt debut, having made two starts on turf and six on the Golden Gate Tapeta. But trainer Sergio Ledezma said he thinks she can handle the surface change.

“She’s very professional,” he said. “She tries very hard.”