Princess Noor looks a cut above her opponents in Chandelier Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – How do you prepare a sprint filly with blazing speed to race around two turns? It’s not complicated, according to the trainer of Princess Noor.

“I ran her every two weeks, that’s how she got prepared,” Bob Baffert said. “There wasn’t a lot to do in between.”

Baffert was only exaggerating slightly. Princess Noor, who followed her dazzling debut by crushing the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante 15 days later, makes her third start in five weeks Saturday at Santa Anita as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-old fillies.

“It’s coming back a little bit quick, but she has brilliant speed and we’ll just see if she can carry it,” Baffert said.

:: Get DRF Betting Strategies for Santa Anita’s Saturday card

As if there is any doubt. Baffert has won the Chandelier 11 times, nine with fillies stretching out from a sprint for the first time.

Princess Noor faces four rivals Saturday, including stablemate Illumination, third in the Del Mar Debutante; Make Mischief, a graded-placed shipper from New York; and debut winners Varda and Miss Costa Rica. The $200,000 Chandelier, race 3, is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

They all will chase Princess Noor, a $1.35 million 2-year-old purchase who has rocketed to the top of the division. She won her debut Aug. 22, and the Debutante by more than six lengths on Sept. 6. In both races, jockey Victor Espinoza barely let her run.

“I told Victor try to save a little bit,” Baffert said, recognizing the two-turn challenge ahead in the Chandelier.

Princess Noor’s effortless stride and ability to ration her speed, as she did in the seven-furlong Debutante, suggests the daughter of first-crop stallion Not This Time will be tough to beat Saturday with a front-running trip from the inside post.

Baffert probably does not need an additional starter in the Chandelier, but he entered two others – Illumination and Varda. Illumination finished second at 5 1/2 furlongs in her debut, then ran virtually the same race finishing third in the seven-furlong Debutante. Two turns could move up the Medaglia d’Oro maiden.

“She’s bred to go two turns, so I think she deserves another chance at it,” Baffert said. “I really think going two turns she’ll be better.”

Illumination, a $6,000 supplement, will be ridden by Luis Saez. Varda, a low-rated debut winner, will be ridden by Drayden Van Dyke.

Make Mischief won her debut at Belmont and placed in three stakes at Saratoga. She is trained by Mark Casse and will be ridden by Abel Cedillo. Miss Costa Rica, a sibling to sprint stakes winner Gas Station Sushi, won a turf sprint in her only start. Flavien Prat rides Miss Costa Rica, who is trained by Richard Baltas.