Steph Being Steph may face stablemate in Beverly Lewis

Trainer Brian Koriner plans to start Steph Being Steph in Saturday’s $75,000 Beverly Lewis Stakes, a six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos. As of Wednesday morning, hours before entries were finalized, Koriner was debating whether to also start Spiced Perfection.

“There is nowhere else to run,” he said. “I might have to run.”

Spiced Perfection, owned by Dare to Dream Stable, has won two stakes against statebreds. She won an optional claimer at six furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 24. The 15-day turnaround to the Beverly Lewis is a concern for Koriner.

“It’s a little quick back,” he said.

Steph Being Steph, owned by a partnership that includes Blinkers On Racing Stable, was second by a head in an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs for 3-year-old fillies at Del Mar on July 19. That was her first start since a third in the Grade 2 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita in February.

In the allowance race, Steph Being Steph was beaten by Moonshine Memories, a two-time Grade 1 winner who was third in the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes at Saratoga on Monday.

Aside from the Koriner pair, other candidates for the Lewis are Best of Me, Broome, Gas Station Sushi, Rayya, and Wicked Storm.

Saturday’s program at Los Alamitos includes the $75,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes for statebred milers. The 2018 stakes winners B Squared, Edwards Going Left, and Soi Phet are expected to start against El Huerfano, Grecian Fire, Shades of Victory, and Touched by Autism.