Moonlight d'Oro gets class test in Las Virgenes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Whose turn is next? The unsettled 3-year-old filly class could gain clarity Saturday at Santa Anita, though it is more likely the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes will only provide temporary leadership of a fickle division.

It’s been that way since summer, when 2020 juvenile fillies routinely came and went. My Girl Red, Princess Noor, Astute, and Varda won stakes in California before being sidelined or, in Princess Noor’s case, retired.

Now comes the one-mile Las Virgenes, and a class test for sharp maiden-route winners Moonlight d’Oro and Moraz. They face Kalypso, whose two sprint stakes wins are sandwiched around a low-rated runner-up finish in her only route. The five-runner Las Virgenes, race 3, is completed by two sprinters with speed – Brilliant Cut and Honor America.

Moonlight d’Oro is likely to start favored based on a decisive maiden victory two months ago when she earned the highest Beyer Speed Figure of the year by a California 2-year-old filly – an 87. Richard Mandella trains Moonlight d’Oro, whose number measures only how fast she ran against maidens. Her inherent class is uncertain. How good is she, really?

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“Well, she’s pretty good, I can tell that,” Mandella said. “Can’t tell just how good.”

Three starts into her career, Moonlight d’Oro certainly is heading the right direction. She finished second in her debut in August, then got sick and did not run until November. She finished third in another maiden sprint.

“It looked like she wanted to go further,” Mandella said. “We did that, and it worked.”

Moonlight d’Oro, a small-sized filly by Medaglia d’Oro, stretched out and won a fast maiden mile at Los Alamitos by three lengths over a good field. The runner-up, Frosteria, finished second in a stakes next out and was the program favorite Friday versus maidens. Third-place Moraz returned to win a maiden race by 11 lengths.

Moraz finished 16 lengths behind Moonlight d’Oro first out, then improved second out while adding Lasix. She romped with a 79 Beyer in her maiden mile. Michael McCarthy trains Moraz, sired by Empire Maker. She will not be treated with Lasix on Saturday.

While maiden winners Moonlight d’Oro and Moraz are proven in routes, the field’s only stakes winner is dubious at two turns. Bob Baffert trains Kalypso, whose two sprint stakes wins are sandwiched around a 65-Beyer runner-up slog in her only route.

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“She’s better now than she was when she stretched out the last time,” Baffert said this week. “It’s all about the pace. If she gets company up front, it’s not going to help her.”

Kalypso will have company up front. Honor America and Brilliant Cut both stretch out and will contest the pace. The Las Virgenes leads to two 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-old fillies – the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes on March 7 and Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks on April 3.

Following the Las Virgenes, the Saturday card includes the Grade 2 San Marcos, race 4; Grade 2 San Vicente, race 7; and Grade 3 Thunder Road, race 8.