Never Be Enough has look of a Badilla special

Trainer Manuel Badilla apparently makes overseas equine transplants feel right at home in his Northern California stable.

Since Jan. 1, 2019, Badilla has started 10 horses that were making their first start in North America. Four of those horses have won, for a $4.76 return on investment, and two more finished third. It’s a potentially meaningful sample that has recency, too. Badilla’s last such starter came March 14 at Golden Gate, where Pentewan won a Tapeta Footings maiden race at nearly 4-1.

Now comes Never Be Enough, who has the outside post facing six rivals in Saturday’s featured seventh race, a second-level allowance restricted to fillies and mares, open to $62,500 claimers, and carded at 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta.

Never Be Enough, a 5-year-old mare by Sir Percy who’s entered under the claiming option, just saw action Jan. 20 at Wolverhampton in England, finishing third in a handicap race over 1 1/2 miles on an all-weather surface. Never Be Enough’s connections tried to make a jump horse out of her last fall, racing Never Be Enough over two miles and fences on three occasions – which didn’t really seem to be her cup of tea. Never Be Enough appears to prefer flat racing, shorter distances, and has run decently on all-weather tracks – and how she starts for Baldilla.

Drawn on the rail is another European expatriate Muchly, who already has gotten in an American run, finishing a modest sixth last month at Santa Anita in a first-level turf allowance race over one mile. Muchly comes up in class and hasn’t raced on a synthetic surface since racing at Chelmsford in England two autumns ago, although trainer Simon Callaghan has won with four of his last nine synthetic starters.

Princess Vivien, Imperial Creed, and Angel Allesandra also appear to have a reasonable chance in what looks like a competitive race that’s the start of a tough late pick four.

Race 8, a maiden turf mile, probably has Muralist as a favorite, and deservedly so, but likely pacesetter Trojan Magic and lightly raced Port Saint Joe – if not others – should make it onto pick four tickets.

Querelle could be the one in race 9, a first-level main-track sprint allowance race for older fillies and mares. This six-furlong dash is overloaded with early speed, and Querelle has the right running style to take advantage and has recently shown top form.

Upo is the pick to post at least a mild upset in race 10, a $20,000 nonwinners-of-two turf claimer. Upo hasn’t raced on turf since May 27, when she missed winning a Golden Gate first-level grass allowance by a head.