Santa Anita: Las Virgenes starting point for Streaming

ARCADIA, Calif. – Streaming was so well regarded after a maiden win in her debut in November that owners John Sikura and Edward McGhee paid $20,000 in supplemental and entry fees to make her eligible for the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet at Hollywood Park on Dec. 7.

That wound up looking like a bargain investment when Streaming won the $500,000 Starlet over 1 1/16 miles by 1 1/2 lengths.

The victory established Streaming as a 3-year-old filly to follow this winter, and she makes her 2014 debut as the favorite in Saturday’s $300,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita. The Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes is run over a mile.

In a reference to the national sporting scene this weekend, trainer Bob Baffert is predicting a top effort.

“When it’s a Grade 1, you’ve got to treat it like a Super Bowl race,” he said. “I think she’s very special.”

By Smart Strike, Streaming was bred by her owners. She will be ridden by regular rider Martin Garcia in the Las Virgenes. Streaming drew the outside post in a field of eight that includes two other stakes winners – Arethusa, who won the Sharp Cat Stakes at Hollywood Park in November and was fifth in the Starlet, and Sushi Empire, who won the Blue Norther Stakes on turf at Santa Anita on Jan. 1. They are trained by Eoin Harty.

The field includes Taste Like Candy, second in the Starlet; Fashion Plate, a quick maiden race winner in a sprint here Dec. 29; and Earthflight, winner of three minor races in England last year who has yet to start in the United States.

Streaming should have a good trip from the outside post. She closed from fourth to win a six-furlong maiden race Nov. 1 and dueled with Taste Like Candy in the Starlet before taking a clear lead in early stretch.

“I think she got a lot out of it,” Baffert said of the Starlet. “She can be on the lead. She can sit. She can do anything.”

The Starlet pace was modest – 23.83 and 47.85 seconds through the first half-mile. The pace in the Las Virgenes may be quicker with the presence of Fashion Plate, although her trainer, Simon Callaghan, is hoping she can be patient for jockey Gary Stevens in her first start beyond 6 1/2 furlongs.

In her Dec. 29 maiden win, Fashion Plate led throughout, drawing off to win by 6 1/2 lengths in her third start.

“I think she’ll get a mile,” Callaghan said. “She made the lead the other day, but she had the experience against the rest of the field. She’s the sort of filly that can do whatever.”

Leading jockey Rafael Bejarano rode Fashion Plate on Dec. 29, but has opted to stay with Taste Like Candy. Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Taste Like Candy was second to the Baffert-trained Awesome Baby in the Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes over seven furlongs Jan. 4, racing near the lead throughout from an inside post.

For the Las Virgenes, the hope is that Taste Like Candy will be farther back, stalking the pace.

“She’ll have a target this time,” said Dan Ward, Hollendorfer’s assistant at Santa Anita. “She was on the rail last time, and I think that hurt.”

Hollendorfer also starts Artemis, a maiden race winner over a mile Jan. 3. She will be ridden for the first time by Mike Smith, who was aboard for a six-furlong workout in 1:15 on Jan. 23.

“I think she’s got the talent,” Ward said.

If the field is zooming too quickly in the first half-mile, Arethusa will be a late threat. She won the Sharp Cat Stakes by 8 1/4 lengths on Nov. 16 for her first win in her fourth start. Arethusa had a troubled start in the Starlet and was beaten 4 1/2 lengths by Streaming.

“It took her three-eighths of a mile to get her mind into it,” Harty said.

Harty considers Arethusa to be a true router.

“If anything, the distance might be a little short for her,” he said. “I would run her a mile and a half if I could. She’ll be at the back for sure. She’s void of that kind of early speed.”