Rodeo Drive: Going to Vegas tries to earn BC berth in California swan song

Going to Vegas, the former $50,000 claimer turned three-time graded stakes winner, will in all likelihood have her last start in California in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday.

On Nov. 6, Going to Vegas is scheduled to be sold as Hip No. 293 at the Fasig-Tipton November sale in Kentucky. There is a significant chance the 5-year-old mare will be retired and bred in early 2023.

Her racing career may continue this fall if she wins the $300,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles on turf for the second consecutive year. The winner of the Rodeo Drive receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 5.

Trainer Phil D’Amato said earlier this week that Going to Vegas will need a win in the Rodeo Drive to start in the Breeders’ Cup.

“Let’s see if she can win this race and earn a ticket to the Breeders’ Cup,” D’Amato said.

Last year, when trained by Richard Baltas, Going to Vegas was 11th of 12 in the BC Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar after setting the pace.

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Going to Vegas won the 2021 Rodeo Drive as the 11-10 favorite, but will be a higher price on Saturday, thanks to the presence of two appealing shippers in Family Way (trained by Brendan Walsh) and Fluffy Socks (Chad Brown) and the local multiple stakes winner Neige Blanche.

Those four as well as the longshots Bellamore, Queen ofthe Temple, and Scarabea are the seven runners in the Rodeo Drive, one of the leading annual races for fillies and mares on turf in California.

Owned by the partnership of Abbondanza Racing, Medallion Racing, and the MyRacehorse syndicate, Going to Vegas is winless in four starts this year, starting twice for Baltas in the winter and spring, and twice for D’Amato in the late spring and summer. Going to Vegas was third by three lengths to Avenue de France in the Grade 2 John Mabee Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Del Mar on Sept. 10 after racing in traffic on the turn.

D’Amato wants jockey Umberto Rispoli to have Going to Vegas closer to the front in the Rodeo Drive, a style the mare used to win the 2021 race.

“Going to Vegas needs to be out there rolling in a tactical position,” he said. “We were a little bit too far back for her best last time.

“We used the Del Mar race to have her 100 percent ready to fire for this race. She’s training as good as she ever has.”

Family Way and Neige Blanche are the only 2022 stakes winners in the field.

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Neige Blanche, fourth in the 2021 Rodeo Drive, has won three stakes at 1 1/4 miles and 1 1/2 miles this year, but was fifth after a disrupted trip as the 4-5 favorite in the CTT and TOC Handicap at 1 3/8 miles at Del Mar on Aug. 19.

Family Way was second as the 4-5 favorite in the Grade 3 Ladies Marathon at 1 5/16 miles at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 13, her fourth consecutive second- or third-place finish in a graded stakes since a win in the Grade 3 Orchid Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Gulfstream Park in April.

Walsh expects Family Way to be near the front, which would put her in a tracking position behind Going to Vegas.

“She’s become very adaptable and very good mentally,” he said. “She relaxes really well now and that’s a big plus. She used to be quite a handful.”

Fluffy Socks is winless in four stakes this year and will have her turf stakes debut at 1 1/4 miles in the Rodeo Drive. Fluffy Socks was beaten a half-length in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Saratoga on Aug. 27, closing from fifth on the turn.

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