Puxa Saco uses A Gleam for encore
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Puxa Saco needed 20 starts to win her first graded stakes, in the Grade 3 Desert Stormer Handicap at Hollywood Park last month.
Saturday at Hollywood Park, Puxa Saco will try for another graded stakes win in the $150,000 A Gleam Handicap for fillies and mares.
won the six-furlong Desert Stormer by three lengths, cruising to the front in early stretch. The Grade 2 A Gleam is run over seven furlongs.
Trainer Jenine Sahadi kicked around sending Puxa Saco to Calder for the Summit of Speed program on Saturday, but decided to stay home.
"I know she likes the seven-eighths," she said. "I know she likes Hollywood Park. It's always the same with her. She will do the best she can."
Puxa Saco carries 118 pounds, one fewer than Alphabet Kisses, the starting highweight. The field of nine includes Valentine Dancer, a two-time stakes winner on turf this year; Ramatuelle, who was third in the Desert Stormer; and Star Parade, who is winless in four starts this year, all in Grade 1 and Grade 2 races.
and Star Parade are shortening in distance after racing around two turns in recent starts. Valentine Dancer has not started on the main track since a second in the Paseana Handicap at Santa Anita in January.
Alphabet Kisses and Puxa Saco figure to dominate the betting.
has won her last two sprints - the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita in December and the B. Thoughtful Stakes for statebreds here on April 24. She was fourth in the Grade 2 Milady Breeders' Cup Handicap over 1 1/16 miles, losing by 10 lengths to Andujar after a poor start.
Alphabet Kisses was second until the final furlong when she began to fade. She missed third by a half-length to Star Parade.
"She will have to break better than she did last time," trainer Marty Jones said. "She got eliminated at the start. Hopefully, she can get away from there."
Alphabet Kisses breaks from the rail. She started from post 2 in a field of eight in the B. Thoughtful and led throughout to win by two. Jones is convinced that the effort she gave in that race would be good enough to win the A Gleam, and give Alphabet Kisses her third stakes win.
The field
A Gleam Handiap
Purse: $150,000; 7 furlongs; Grade 2
| PP | HORSE | JOCKEY | WT. | ODDS |
| 1 | Alphabet Kisses | G. Stevens | 119 | 3-1 |
| 2 | Festival | D. Sorenson | 112 | 20-1 |
| 3 | Puxa Saco | A. Solis | 118 | 6-1 |
| 4 | Heavenly Humor | P. Valenzuela | 115 | 5-1 |
| 5 | Rinky Dink | R. Douglas | 112 | 20-1 |
| 6 | Valentine Dancer | J. Court | 118 | 4-1 |
| 7 | Muir Beach | D. Flores | 113 | 12-1 |
| 8 | Ramatuelle | G. Gomez | 114 | 15-1 |
| 9 | Star Parade | J. Valdivia Jr. | 116 | 5-2 |
* Odds by Michael Hammersly
* Blinkers on: Rinky Dink
* Television: Saturday, 7-8:30 p.m. Eastern, ESPN