Plenty of pace – and options – in Autumn Miss Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Fourteen horses at a mile on turf and, surprise, it is not a Breeders’ Cup race.

The Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes, race 9 on Sunday at Santa Anita, provides a fitting end to the track’s fall meet, and practice for bettors looking toward three turf miles expected to attract 14-horse fields next week at Del Mar.

The Breeders’ Cup Mile, Juvenile Turf, and Juvenile Fillies Turf have the star power, but in terms of wagering appeal, the $100,000 Autumn Miss is every bit as attractive.

“The race came up a little salty,” trainer Richard Baltas said, and he would know. Baltas entered three of the 14 runners – Tapped, Kathy’s Song, and Reverse. “I like my horses in there. All three of them are doing well.”

Others in the field include East Coast shipper Lull, and locally based Meadowsweet. Throw in stakes winners Miss Southern Miss, Storm the Hill, and several sharp allowance-caliber runners, and the Autumn Miss is exceptionally deep.

Lull arrived Thursday from New York for trainer Christophe Clement. She is among the favorites in her third trip to California. Last year in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita, Lull set the pace and finished fourth. This summer in the Grade 2 San Clemente at Del Mar, Lull set the pace and finished second.

Though she is running back 16 days after a race in Kentucky, assistant trainer Christophe Lorieul believes Lull will benefit from the longer distance and class drop after finishing third against older last out in a Grade 3 at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Keeneland.

“It was maybe a bit short for her,” Lorieul said. “She came back great. She’s back again with 3-year-old fillies. And she doesn’t have to be on the lead, especially going a mile.”

Lull is one of several front-runners/pace-pressers, along with Meadowsweet, Spin Me a Kiss, Sandy’s Surprise, and Almost Carla.

The pace scenario is a concern for Meadowsweet’s trainer, Cliff Sise. Meadowsweet was a better-than-it-looked fifth last out in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks after setting the pace. “Speed wasn’t holding; they were coming from way behind,” Sise noted.

Meadowsweet lost by only two lengths, and was the only front-runner to stick around late in the race. The four-start filly benefits Sunday by the class drop and shorter distance, but is another potentially compromised by the pace scenario.

“She’s better on the front end by herself,” Sise acknowledged. “Here, she has to chase. But going a mile, the pace will be a little stronger.”

Evin Roman picks up the mount.

A pace meltdown would benefit closer Miss Southern Miss, fifth as the favorite last out in a sprint stakes that included five who run back in the Autumn Miss.

Keith Desormeaux trains Miss Southern Miss, whose only previous turf mile was an impressive stakes win last year as a 2-year-old. Kent Desormeaux has the mount aboard the filly, who should improve in her second start following a nearly seven-month layoff.

As for the Baltas trio, he said both Tapped and Kathy’s Song, second and fourth last out in a sprint stakes, will benefit from the mile distance. Reverse, a private acquisition based previously at Woodbine, will make her first start for Baltas.

“I think she’s nice, and I think she’ll run on dirt, too,” Baltas said.