Something for everyone in Speakeasy

ARCADIA, Calif. – Like a fine cocktail menu, there’s something for seemingly every taste in the Speakeasy Stakes for 2-year-olds Saturday at Santa Anita, including fillies facing males; horses making their debuts; ship-ins from Ireland, Saratoga by way of Kentucky, Florida, and Northern California; and runners making their first starts for new connections following private purchases.

There are nine who will go 5 1/2 furlongs on turf for a $100,000 purse, but far more is at stake, as the Speakeasy is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint Nov. 6 at Keeneland.

Commander Khai, a romping front-running maiden winner on turf at Del Mar Sept. 4 for Richard Baltas, is the best of the locals with turf form. To prevail, though, he’ll have to outrun eight rivals, several of whom are intriguing alternatives. It’s a wide-open race, and is the anchor leg of the Player’s Pick 5, race 5 on the 11-race card.

The well-traveled filly Amanzi Yimpilo, named for a clean-water project in South Africa, is the requisite Wesley Ward entrant, sent west after a third-place finish in the Bolton Landing last month at Saratoga, which followed a debut win at Gulfstream. She stopped off at Keeneland for a work before heading here and now needs only 46 states to collect the whole set.

Another filly, Feathers, 1 for 2 in Great Britain, makes her first start following a private purchase by Eclipse Thoroughbreds and Gary Barber, who turned her over to turf sprint stalwart Peter Miller.

:: Get DRF Betting Strategies for Santa Anita’s Saturday card

Miller and Barber team up with another private purchase in Wyfire, acquired after a second-start maiden win on dirt at Del Mar. This will be his first race on grass, but he has a half-brother and a half-sister who were turf winners.

John Sadler and owners Kosta and Pete Hronis acquired Fury Kap privately after a 9 1/4-length debut win at Tampa in May. This is his first start since.

“If he likes the turf he’ll be tough,” Sadler said.

Windy City Red arrives from Golden Gate, where earlier this month he scored a debut win on Tapeta as the odds-on favorite for Jonathan Wong.

Doug O’Neill entered a trio – The Great One, No Pedigree, and Basque Man – all making their debuts after being bought at auction at OBS earlier this year. They landed the inside three posts. The Great One’s dam was a stakes winner on turf, and he’s by the red-hot stallion Nyquist, whom O’Neill trained to a Kentucky Derby win and a 2-year-old championship.

“All three are talented,” O’Neill said Thursday. “With no maidens having gone yet so far at the meet, this seemed like the right place to debut all three. All three seem to have above-average talent.”