Rose Dawson looks to build on last in California Distaff

ARCADIA, Calif. – Rose Dawson’s career sank like the Titanic after she won her first two starts, including a $200,000 California-bred stakes. She lost her next eight.

“She kind of soured on us last year,” trainer Phil D’Amato acknowledged. “She was good at 2, then tailed off at 3. We freshened her up, and she’s a different filly now. She’s more mature.”

She’s the horse to beat Saturday in the $100,000 California Distaff Handicap at Santa Anita. Rose Dawson, fresh off an allowance dirt romp, returns to turf for the Cal Distaff, a hillside sprint for statebred fillies and mares in which she finished fourth last year. She is a better filly this year.

Owned and bred by Nick Alexander, Rose Dawson’s main rival carries the same navy blue silks. Alexander also owns and bred Rose Maddox, the Steve Miyadi-trained stakes winner shortening from a turf-route runner-up. Both fillies are gray 4-year-olds by California stallion Grazen.

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Rose Dawson, named after the movie character in “Titanic,” and Rose Maddox, named for the late country singer and fiddle player, top the field of seven in the Cal Distaff. Others include Ultimate Hy, stakes winner Chismosa, Organic, Kleen Karma, and Madiha.

D’Amato has won four Cal Distaffs, Alexander three. They teamed with 2019-20 winner Just Grazed Me when the race was 5 1/2 furlongs. The stakes returned to 6 1/2 furlongs on the hill in 2021; this year’s Distaff is only the third hillside sprint this meet.

Rose Dawson’s career began with promise. She scored a decisive win in a maiden dirt sprint, then stretched to a mile on turf and won the 2022 California Cup Oaks. But her campaign sputtered into 2023, and after subpar efforts in January, she took an extended break.

Fourth in her comeback in a Del Mar route, Rose Dawson followed with a five-length victory in a Los Alamitos dirt sprint.

“She probably needed that first race,” D’Amato said. She also benefited from an equipment change. “Blinkers back on helped put her in the race, and she won pretty impressively.”

She pressed the pace and ran away.

“I think we have a better line on her running style,” D’Amato said. “She needs to be more stalking the pace than coming from way out of it.”

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Juan Hernandez rides 3-for-11 Rose Dawson, whose style suits the pace scenario. Other than Organic, the field is short on speed.

Rose Maddox is more accomplished, having won five races and $356,782 from 17 starts including a pair of route stakes. Though her wins also include two sprints, she is a pace-dependent late-runner. Tiago Pereira rides Rose Maddox.

The Cal Distaff is the opening leg of the $3 all-turf pick three on races 7, 9, and 11. Race 9 is a turf-mile starter allowance in which Aurelian Man and Caisson are top contenders; race 11 is a claiming turf mile led by pace-presser Tiz Plus and late-runners Grape Nuts Warrior and Overdue. The median payoff for the $3 pick three the first seven days of racing is $495.

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