Sass Mo Blue back quickly for Sgt Pepper Feature

The Maiden Stakes run at Los Alamitos each winter is a bit of a gimmick, a restricted stakes for 3-year-olds that were maidens as of Dec. 1 of the preceding year.

The purse is no trivial matter. On Feb. 16, Sass Mo Blue won the $109,500 Maiden Stakes, earning $45,990 for Lucky Seven Ranch and trainer Mike Casselman.

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A winner of 2 of 9 starts, Sass Mo Blue lacks an open stakes win. After a troubled seventh in the Golden State Derby on Aug. 16, Sass Mo Blue makes a quick comeback in Saturday’s $25,000 Sgt Pepper Feature Handicap for 3-year-olds at 350 yards at Los Alamitos.

This is a race Sass Mo Blue can win. He starts from the outside post in a field of six, which should help the gelding avoid trouble at the start. In his only two starts at 350 yards, Sass Mo Blue won a trial for the Maiden Stakes and the final. Oscar Peinado will ride Sass Mo Blue for the first time.

Three other runners in the field – All Prettied Up, Doctor Gene, and Fayvorite Chick – ran in stakes earlier this summer with mixed results.

All Prettied Up, one of two fillies in Saturday’s lineup, won the California Debutante Stakes at 350 yards for statebred 3-year-olds on July 26 for her first stakes win. Trained by Angela Aquino, All Prettied Up will be ridden by her nephew Oscar Andrade Jr., who was aboard for the recent stakes win. All Prettied Up has won 3 of 13 starts.

Doctor Gene was third in the Vandys Flash Handicap for 3-year-olds at 350 yards on June 28 in his stakes debut. Trained by Scott Willoughby, Doctor Gene was beaten three-quarters of a length by Up and Coming, a two-time stakes winner this year.

Doctor Gene will be ridden for the first time by Erasmo Gasca. Vinnie Bednar, who rode Doctor Gene in five of his first seven starts, suffered injuries in a spill last Saturday and underwent spinal cord surgery on Sunday. The extent of Bednar’s injuries is not known.

Fayvorite Chick, a filly who has won 2 of 14 starts, was seventh in the Governor’s Cup Derby on July 26 as a 40-1 outsider. Trained by Matt Fales, Fayvorite Chick lugged to the inside midway through the 400-yard race and was not a factor, finishing 2 1/2 lengths behind winner Nomadic.

Fayvorite Chick won a 300-yard allowance race in June, displaying a strong rally in the final 100 yards.