Sadler duo face challenges in Pasadena
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bench Warrant and Daddy D T both have won a stakes race on turf in Southern California in the last seven months. Both are trained by John Sadler, and both have something to prove in Saturday’s $75,000 Pasadena Stakes.
Nine were entered in the Pasadena Stakes, which is for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf.
Bench Warrant is unbeaten in two races on the hillside turf course here, the most recent of which was the Baffle Stakes on Feb. 15. He closed from last in a field of eight to win by a neck as the 9-5 favorite.
But Bench Warrant has never won at farther than 6 1/2 furlongs.
“He’s undefeated on turf,” said Larry Benavidez, assistant to Sadler. “I’m not concerned about the stretch-out.”
Daddy D T won the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf Stakes at a mile at Del Mar last September but is winless in his last four starts. Daddy D T was third in the Eddie Logan Stakes at a mile on turf Dec. 27 and was second to Papacoolpapacool in an optional claimer at a mile on turf Feb. 22.
“We thought he should have blown by that other horse,” Benavidez said of the Feb. 22 race.
Daddy D T faces Papacoolpapacool again in the Pasadena Stakes. Trained by Phil D’Amato, Papacoolpapacool tries for his first stakes win in the Pasadena. He was third behind Daddy D T in the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf last September.