Osunitas top two have something to prove

Saturday may be Saqqara Sands day at Del Mar.

Bought for approximately $2.8 million at auction last December in Britain, the highly regarded 4-year-old filly will have her American debut in the $100,000 Osunitas Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf.

The restricted race is quite the change from her final three starts of 2025, in which she finished in a dead heat for first in the Group 3 Oak Tree Stakes for fillies and mares at Goodwood, ran a game second against males at that same course in the Group 2 Celebration Mile, then finished last of nine in the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes for fillies and mares at Newmarket last October.

The Osunitas Stakes, restricted to nonwinners of a first-place purse of $50,000 in races at a mile or longer, other than statebreds, since Oct. 1, would seemingly be an easy first start of 2026 for Saqqara Sands.

Instead, she may face a test from an established American runner in May Day Ready, a three-time stakes winner who herself has something prove in the Osunitas.

Saqqara Sands and May Day Ready are the principal runners in Saturday’s third race, the first of three stakes on an 11-race program. The Osunitas drew a field of eight.

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Saqqara Sands, owned by Doreen Tabor and trained by Simon Callaghan, has recorded a steady pattern of workouts since mid-May. Saqqara Sands has won 3 of 8 starts, with all the wins coming at seven furlongs, and was beaten a neck by the multiple stakes winner Jonquil in the Celebration Mile last August.

Callaghan said earlier this week that the Osunitas distance may be too short for Saqqara Sands and that she will benefit from the start.

“There will be some improvement from this race,” he said.

“I think the way she trains she might want to run further than a mile. I think a mile and an eighth will be more her distance.”

The Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf Sept. 7 at Del Mar is more of a goal for Saqqara Sands than the Osunitas.

“We’re not going to be devastated if we don’t win,” Callaghan said of Saturday’s race. “She will sharpen up for this race.”

May Day Ready is fully capable of winning. Trained by Richard Mandella, May Day Ready has won two Grade 2 races in her career – the 2024 Jessamine Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Keeneland and the Lake Placid Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga last August.

May Day Ready was sent to Mandella last winter and had mixed results in her first two starts for him at Santa Anita in the spring, finishing second by a half-length in the Grade 3 Royal Heroine Stakes on April 25, but seventh of eight in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes on May 25.

“She was real good the first time, and the second time not so good,” Mandella said.

Despite her Gamely performance, Mandella said he is encouraged by May Day Ready’s recent training, citing her “attitude” as a positive.

“She’s doing better since we’ve had her,” he said.

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