Royal Heroine Stakes hosts international field of competitors

ARCADIA, Calif. – The $200,000 Royal Heroine Stakes over a mile on turf Saturday will include fillies and mares that made their last starts on three continents.

Dutchessa, a recent import from France, and Habibi, a stakes winner in New Zealand in 2013, will make their first starts in the U.S. against a strong group of locals expected to include Moone’s My Name, Parranda, Stormy Lucy, and Wishing Gate.

The Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes is part of the undercard of the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita program.

Dutchessa is trained by Darrell Vienna for Jed and Roberta Cohen’s Red Baron’s Stable. The 5-year-old mare won an allowance race at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris in April and was stakes-placed at Chantilly Racecourse last November.

Habibi was withdrawn from an optional claimer earlier this month because of a cough. Trained by Dan Blacker, Habibi won the New Zealand Derby in March 2013. A 5-year-old mare, Habibi has not raced since finishing fourth in the Australian Oaks in April 2013.

Parranda and Moone’s My Name were first and second in the Grade 3 Wilshire Stakes over a mile on turf April 27. Parranda later finished third in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on turf May 26.

Stormy Lucy was fourth in the Gamely, ending a two-race winning streak that consisted of the Grade 2 Santa Ana Stakes in March and the Grade 3 Santa Barbara Handicap in April. Wishing Gate, the winner of the Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes here last October, was fifth in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf in her most recent start in January.

The Saturday program has two other graded stakes – the $300,000 Triple Bend Stakes over seven furlongs and the $100,000 Senorita Stakes over a mile on turf for 3-year-old fillies.

Sahara Sky, who won the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes here in March, can end a two-race losing streak in the Triple Bend. Sahara Sky was seventh in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes over seven furlongs May 3.

Trainer Bob Baffert will have two starters – Declassify, who has yet to run in a stakes, and Drill, who won the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity in 2011 but is winless in 13 starts since the Grade 3 Laz Barrera Stakes in May 2012.

The list of candidates for the Senorita Stakes includes Clenor, a two-time stakes winner as a 2-year-old last year who was second in the minor Ultrafleet Stakes on the hillside turf course May 2.