Pair of second-start maidens have lofty expectations
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ARCADIA, Calif. – The postponement of the Anoakia Stakes due to insufficient entries shifts the focus to maiden fillies with stakes potential in the first and last races Sunday at Santa Anita.
Splendora and Margarita Girl make their second starts as probable favorites in races 1 and 8, respectively. Expectations are sky-high for both. The Anoakia, not so much. A sprint stakes for 2-year-old fillies, it attracted just four entries and was written back as an “extra” for Oct. 25.
Margarita Girl was nominated the Anoakia and might have been favored based on her promising runner-up debut Aug. 31 at Del Mar. Favored at odds-on, Margarita Girl finished second, a result that was both disappointing and satisfying. She got beat, but she ran well.
“We felt she would probably win the first time based on how she had trained,” trainer Mark Glatt admitted. But maiden races in summer often bring surprise. “You never what you’re going to catch around here, and she caught a filly that came back to win a graded stakes.”
Non Compliant beat Margarita Girl by 1 1/2 lengths, won the Grade 2 Oak Leaf next out, and is among the early favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Margarita Girl, who earned a 79 Beyer Speed Figure finishing nine lengths clear of third, will switch surfaces Sunday.
“The Twirling Candys seem to do much better on grass overall, so I kind of had the grass thing in the back of my mind,” Glatt said. “When we got back to Santa Anita, the track was much deeper than it is now, and she didn’t seem to be getting a hold of the track as well in her works.”
Margarita Girl is owned by Hans and Ana Maron, whose stable name is Saints or Sinners, and Tim Cohen-managed Rancho Temescal Thoroughbred Partners. Margarita Girl is named after Ana Maron’s favorite cocktail.
Antonio Fresu rides Margarita Girl, whose main rival is last-out turf runner-up What About Q. The field also includes Caitlin Fever, named for WNBA star Caitlin Clark. Caitlin Fever finished second in a maiden turf route two back, and sixth last out in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf.
The most heavily favored runner on the Sunday card returns in race 1, a dirt sprint for maiden fillies and mares between ages 3 and 5. Splendora, a 3-year-old trained by Bob Baffert, ran well in her only start Dec. 29, runner-up to subsequent Grade 3 winner Kinza.
Splendora’s last three workouts earned a bullet designation as fastest of the day. They include a team drill Oct. 5 with Cavalieri, who came out of the work to win an allowance with a 90 Beyer.
Michael Talla owns Splendora and Grade 2 winner Sugar Fish, trained by Jeff Mullins. In the Santa Anita winner’s circle after Sugar Fish won the Zenyatta Stakes on Sept. 29, Talla’s racing manager Kim Lloyd compared the perceived ability of multiple graded winner Sugar Fish and one-start maiden Splendora. Lloyd’s surprising assessment: “Sugar Fish . . . she ain’t catching Splendora.”
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