Pretty N Cool heads probables for Grade 1 Starlet
The graded stakes winner Pretty N Cool will start in Saturday’s $300,000 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos, while Coppa, an impressive maiden race winner at Del Mar last month, will be pointed for a stakes at Santa Anita next month.
As of Sunday, a field of seven fillies was likely for the Grade 1 Starlet at 1 1/16 miles. Pretty N Cool is one five stakes winners among the probable starters, along with Pacific Heat, Patriotic Diamond, Stays In Vegas, and Surfside Tiara. The stakes-placed fillies Street Fancy and Treasuring are other candidates.
Pretty N Cool won the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar in August and the Grade 2 Matron Stakes at Belmont Park in October. She was last of five as the 3-5 favorite in the Desi Arnaz Stakes at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 15, a performance trainer Bob Baffert dismissed. He said he was encouraged by Pretty N Cool’s six-furlong workout in 1:13 at Santa Anita on Sunday.
“She ended up going seven-eighths,” Baffert said. “I think I’ll run her. She got a little tired, but she deserves a shot at the Grade 1.”
Coppa is likely to run in the $200,000 Santa Ynez Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 6 1/2 furlongs on Jan. 2, trainer Phil D’Amato said. Coppa beat maidens in her debut at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 1. D’Amato said starting Coppa around two turns in her second start could be asking for too great of an effort.
“I think I’ve got a nice horse,” D’Amato said. “One rule I live by is that if you do too many new things at once it’s a recipe for disaster. She’d be going two turns against winners on a track that she’s never run on. That’s a lot for a young horse.”
D’Amato said there is a chance that Sutton’s Smile could run in the Starlet. Sutton’s Smile was third in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 28.
Patriotic Diamond was scratched from the $100,000 Soviet Problem Stakes for California-bred 2-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos on Saturday in favor of a start in the Starlet Stakes.