Solar Miss liable to improve

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Kathy Walsh has clear memories of Solar Miss's stakes debut in the Harold Ramser Handicap at Santa Anita last month.

"She had everything go wrong," Walsh said.

After a slow start, Solar Miss finished last of five in the one-mile race. Walsh is hoping for a far better outcome when Solar Miss starts in the $65,000 Audrey Skirball-Kenis Stakes at Hollywood Park on Saturday.

Solar Miss, supplemented to the Kenis for $1,300 on Wednesday, is the likely favorite in the field of eight 3-year-old fillies. Owned by breeder Eric Jensen, Solar Miss should benefit from the race distance of 1 1/8 miles on turf, having finished with an excellent rally to win an optional claimer over 1 1/16 miles on turf at Del Mar in August.

"That's the way she wants to run," Walsh said. "She's pretty legit."

Garrett Gomez, who was aboard Solar Miss for that victory, has the mount on Saturday. The race includes two 2008 stakes winners - Famous Ruby, the winner of the California Cup Matron in a 16-1 upset at Santa Anita on Oct. 5, and You Lift Me Up, who won the Last Dance Stakes at the Bay Meadows Fair in August. Famous Ruby, trained by Jorge Alcala, is seeking her first win on turf.

You Lift Me Up can run near the front, and may be joined in that capacity by Mohaka and Set of Wings. Mohaka is making her stakes debut for owner Jon Kelly and trainer Sam Semkin. She began her career in July and has shown improvement in recent starts.

Set of Wings was third in an allowance race at Santa Anita on Oct. 22, an improvement from an eighth-place finish in a division of the Daisycutter Handicap at Del Mar in September. Trained by Jorge Gutierrez, Set of Wings was third in the Hidden Light Stakes on turf at Santa Anita in October 2007.

Aside from Mohaka, the only other filly making her stakes debut is Fire n' Brimstone. Trained by David Hofmans, Fire n' Brimstone has just one victory in 16 starts, but was second in her last two starts, including a loss to Solar Miss on Aug. 22.

Hofmans is hopeful circumstances will work in Fire n' Brimstone's favor on Saturday.

"She's doing super," Hofmans said. "The distance is a perfect fit for her, and she looks like she fits with these horses."