Pletcher prominent in Sixty Sails

STICKNEY, Ill. – A Todd Pletcher-trained horse has won four of the last eight editions of the Sixty Sails, and Pletcher could win it again Saturday with a little-known Brazilian import named Ana Luisa.

The emphasis this time is on “could.”

Ana Luisa’s form is a far cry from Pletcher’s previous Sixty Sails standouts like Life at Ten and Fleet Indian, and she’s one of seven plausible winners among the eight older fillies and mares entered to run 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 3, $150,000 race.

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The 4-year-old Ana Luisa went 3 for 4 last year in Brazil, her lone loss coming in her only Group 1 start. She finished a decent, closing fourth on turf in the $100,000 South Beach Stakes on Dec. 15 at Gulfstream, then was a one-paced fifth of six in a high-end dirt allowance race Jan. 29. It would be easier to put that performance down to a sloppy track had Ana Luisa not gone 2 for 2 on wet dirt in Brazil.[bc_video_id:321642:]

Holes, though, can be poked in all the entrants. Flashy American’s best 2013 form would win this, but she finished a meek sixth in her 5-year-old debut March 15 in the Azeri Stakes. Flashy American could have a forward move in her but is a dicey play at a fairly short price.

Then there are the Florida shippers Sonja’s Angel, Dress the Part, and Gamay Noir. Sonja’s Angel has speed, the rail, and sharp form, but she’s untested at the distance and is making her stakes debut at age 6. Dress the Part’s three-race win streak came with favorable trips against questionable competition at Tampa, and she has no nine-furlong experience. Gamay Noir just won the Grade 3 Rampart, but she was 50-1 in the race because she had never turned in a performance like that in her life.

Imposing Grace’s best performance was on Polytrack at Arlington; the meet there is just around the corner. Dixie Strike’s only dirt win came in a rich race restricted to Ontario-breds.

This Sixty Sails makes one pine for the days of short-priced, can’t-lose Pletcher horses.

My Option returns

Perhaps just as talented as the Sixty Sails runners is My Option, who makes her 4-year-old debut against Illinois-breds in the six-furlong Third Chance Handicap.

My Option won the Grade 3 Arlington Oaks over nine furlongs last summer but proved equally effective racing one turn and was a sharp winner of her 2013 debut going six furlongs at Hawthorne, a good omen for Saturday’s race.

◗ The 9-year-old River Bear is a deserving favorite in the Robert Molaro Handicap, another Illinois-bred sprint stakes.