Santa Anita: Cambina gives Bonde Cup shot

ARCADIA, Calif - Cambina, fifth in the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 1, is being pointed for the BC Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 4, and may be among three runners at Churchill Downs that weekend for trainer Jeff Bonde.

Cambina, 3, closed from last in a field of nine to finish 2 1/2 lengths behind race winner Dubawi Heights, one of the top American contenders for the Filly and Mare Turf. Cambina raced on the rail and was still last with a furlong remaining in the race over 1 1/4 miles on turf.

“She didn’t get the best of trips,” Bonde said.

The Filly and Mare Turf is run over 1 3/8 miles, an increase in distance that Bonde “is hoping” will benefit Cambina. Cambina has won 6 of 14 starts and $390,426. She won four stakes earlier this year, including a dead heat for first with Nereid in the Grade 1 American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on turf at Hollywood Park in July.

Bonde also plans to start the multiple stakes winner Smiling Tiger in the BC Sprint on Nov. 5. Third in the 2010 BC Sprint at Churchill Downs, Smiling Tiger was fourth in the Grade 1 Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar in August. Smiling Tiger is scheduled to be sold at a sale in Kentucky in November following the Breeders’ Cup.

Bonde may start the Del Mar maiden race winner Norm’s Passion in the BC Juvenile Sprint. Norm’s Passion is scheduled to start in the $125,000 Keeneland 75th Anniversary Stakes over six furlongs next Saturday.