Santa Anita: Las Flores a stepping-stone for Keeneland's Madison

ARCADIA, Calif. – The visitors outnumber the locals in Sunday’s $100,000 Las Flores Handicap at Santa Anita.

Three fillies and mares were shipped from Florida and Louisiana to meet two locally based fillies in the Grade 3 Las Flores Handicap over six furlongs. Several of the runners could be back on the road to Kentucky with a successful race in the Las Flores, bound for the $300,000 Madison Stakes over seven furlongs at Keeneland on April 12.

That’s the plan that California trainer Peter Miller is using for Heir Kitty, the winner of the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes over seven furlongs on Dec. 26. Heir Kitty was fourth in the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes on Jan. 25. A wait of more than two months between the Santa Monica and the Madison was too long from Miller’s perspective.

“We wanted to get a race in between,” he said.

Heir Kitty has won 4 of 15 starts and $382,272. A 4-year-old filly, Heir Kitty runs from off the pace and will have ample speed to follow in the Las Flores.

Warm Breeze, the winner of the Happy Ticket Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 1 for trainer Grant Forster, and Munnings Sister, winner of the Awesome Feather Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 6 for trainer Barclay Tagg, will dispute the pace. They will be closely followed by Kinz Funky Money, a pace threat from the rail, and Judy the Beauty, unraced since a second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint here last November.

Kinz Funky Monkey, Warm Breeze, and Munnings Sister will try to win their first graded stakes in the Las Flores. Kinz Funky Monkey, trained at Santa Anita by Peter Eurton, won the Manhattan Beach Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf at Hollywood Park last summer.

Munnings Sister has won 7 of 16 starts. A 5-year-old mare by Speightstown, Munnings Sister began her career in California, where she won the California Wine Stakes at Pleasanton in June 2012. Munnings Sister was transferred from trainer Tim McCanna to Tagg in the summer of 2012. For Tagg, Munnings Sister has won four stakes at Belmont Park and Gulfstream Park.

Heir Kitty won her first stakes in the La Brea. The loss in the Santa Monica left Miller discouraged because the race was run at a relatively slow pace. Heir Kitty finished 3 3/4 lengths behind Scherzinger.

“Her best race is from off the pace,” Miller said. “She was closer than we wanted and the pace was slow last time. Hopefully she’ll be able to settle. We’ll sit fourth or fifth, which is last or next-to-last.”

Judy the Beauty has won 5 of 13 starts and $765,757. Based at Gulfstream Park this winter, Judy the Beauty won the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes at Keeneland last October before finishing a half-length behind Groupie Doll in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint in a game effort.

Trainer Wesley Ward said earlier in the week that he considers the Las Flores as a prep for the Grade 1 Madison Stakes.

“I think she needs a run before she tackles Grade 1 company,” he said.