One-eyed Hard Not to Love one to watch in Angel Flight Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Plenty more stakes remain for 3-year-old fillies beyond the Saturday doubleheader at Santa Anita, although Hard Not to Love does not know what is left.

Hard Not to Love is missing her left eye. So far, no big deal. She scored impressive victories in her first two starts and will enter the $75,000 Angels Flight Stakes as a major contender against statebred stakes winner Sneaking Out and flashy debut winner Miss My Rose.

The seven-furlong Angels Flight is race 2, the Grade 3 Senorita Stakes on turf is race 3 and includes the top three from last month’s Grade 3 Providencia. Runner-up Maxim Rate will try to turn the tables on Hostess. Lady Prancealot also entered. First post for the 11-race Saturday card is noon.

John Shirreffs trains Hard Not to Love, who is unbothered by the vision deficit.

“She’s pretty good about horses on the inside of her, she’s okay there,” Shirreffs said. “The thing is letting her turn her head and look so she can see the other [left] side when she needs to.”

Hard Not to Love wired maidens first out, her next start was noteworthy. She engaged in a four-way duel, shook clear, opened up, and held. Shirreffs hopes jockey Tiago Pereira can somehow guide her away from post 2 in the five-runner field.

“She likes it a little bit more on the outside than the inside,” Shirreffs said.

Sired by Hard Spun, Hard Not to Love is a sibling to Queen’s Plate winner Wonder Gadot, and Shirreffs looks forward to stretching her out. “Her breeding is all two-turn breeding, just waiting for the opportunity.”

That will arrive May 26 in the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks, a 1 1/16-mile race and also likely to be the next start for the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained Sneaking Out. Her win in the Evening Jewel Stakes for California-breds was her third from four starts.

In addition to Miss My Rose, the five-runner Angels Flight includes outsiders Stealthediamonds and Tiz a Master.

The $100,000 Senorita includes Simon Callaghan-trained Hostess and Maxim Rate, one-two finishers in the 1 1/8-mile Providencia. Callaghan could have sent either to Churchill Downs for the Grade 3, $250,000 Edgewood Stakes on Friday, but opted to stay home instead of facing Newspaperofrecord.

Lightly raced Maxim Rate benefits from a cutback to the one-mile distance of the Senorita, just the third start of her career. Lady Prancealot will rally late. The Senorita leads to the Grade 3 Honeymoon at 1 1/8 miles on June 1.

◗ Flagstaff enters race 8 on Saturday with the top figures and recognizable bloodlines. A 5-year-old gelding by Speightstown, Flagstaff was produced by Indyan Giving, which makes him a sibling to Kentucky Derby contender Game Winner. John Sadler trains comebacker Flagstaff, the likely favorite in the entry-level allowance. Santa Anita race 8 is about a half-hour before the Derby.