Retama Park: Thegirlinthatsong, Redgrass Cat go head to head in La Senorita

The $75,000 La Senorita at Retama Park on Saturday night has drawn proven class in stakes winners Thegirlinthatsong and Redgrass Cat. The $75,000 El Joven, which is on the same card, has several promising starters, including Perky Kitten, who invades for the Ken and Sarah Ramsey outfit that last year swept the La Senorita and El Joven with eventual Grade 1 winners Kitten’s Dumplings and Admiral Kitten.

The El Joven and La Senorita are each for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf. The races have long been a fixture at Retama and will have their 19th runnings Saturday.

Thegirlinthatsong is proven at the La Senorita’s conditions, having won the $100,000 Happy Ticket at a mile on turf at Louisiana Downs in her last start Sept. 7. Since then, her target has been the La Senorita, said Andrew Konkoly, who trains Thegirlinthatsong for Anjo Racing.

“We’re not trying to rush this little filly,” he said.

Thegirlinthatsong put on a show in the Happy Ticket. She trailed the field early, then came six wide into the stretch and took after the leaders. Thegirlinthatsong went on to cover the distance in 1:36.90, and the Beyer Speed Figure of 71 that she earned is the best career number in the La Senorita.

“I think she’s got a big heart,” Konkoly said. “She likes what she does.”

Prior to the Happy Ticket, Thegirlinthatsong won a maiden special weight turf sprint at Louisiana Downs and was second by a neck in the track’s $50,000 Donnie Wilhite Memorial, a 7 1/2-furlong turf race won by Redgrass Cat. In both races, Thegirlinthatsong stalked the leaders, unlike her last-to-first win in the Happy Ticket.

She will break from post 6 on Saturday, under regular rider Don Simington.

“If the pace is slow, we’ll be closer to the front,” Konkoly said. “If it’s fast, we’ll be farther away like last time. She’s flexible.”

Redgrass Cat also exits the Happy Ticket, a race in which she rallied for fifth. She will add blinkers Saturday. Lindey Wade has the mount for Paul Rigali Jr. and trainer Allen Milligan.

Danny Pish, the perennial leading trainer at Retama, will counter with three starters: Daffodil Lady, Great Queen, and Suaveberry. Suaveberry is owned by Dennis Foster, who also races Got Shades, the Pish trainee who was a troubled fifth in the recent $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita. Suaveberry made her debut Oct. 11 and finished second by a half-length in a 7 1/2-furlong turf race run at Remington.

“She kind of got away from the gates a little poorly then ran a big, nice rally,” Pish said. “She’s promising.”

Pish also will be active in the El Joven, with Rainbow Trip, an 8 1/2-length maiden special weight winner at Retama, and Margarita Bibb, who was a 2 1/2-length maiden winner at Remington.

Perky Kitten, who was a supplement to the El Joven, ran fourth in a maiden special weight at Keeneland in his lone career start Oct. 9. Trainer Mike Maker, who swept the El Joven and La Senorita last year, has given the mount to Julien Leparoux.

Admiral Kitten, winner of last year’s El Joven, captured this year’s Grade 1 Secretariat at Arlington, while the La Senorita was a springboard for Kitten’s Dumplings, who this fall won the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.