Stretch-out to a mile could be just what Frosteria needs to get job done

Frosteria finished second as the 4-5 favorite in a six-furlong maiden special weight race at Del Mar in the middle of the afternoon on Nov. 7.

Trainer Bob Baffert was not in attendance. He was about 2,150 miles away, at Keeneland, where Authentic had won the Breeders’ Cup Classic less than an hour earlier.

“I had won the Breeders’ Cup and I asked later, ‘How did Frosteria do?’ ” Baffert recalled Friday. “They said she ran second. I couldn’t believe she got beat.”

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Frosteria will have her third start, and first going as far as a mile, in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies on Sunday at Los Alamitos. This time, Baffert thinks the distance will provide Frosteria with a breakthrough win.

“I think she’ll love going a mile,” he said. “I think she’s a talented filly. I expect her to run well.”

The maiden special weight race drew a field of nine.

Frosteria, owned and bred by Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing, has always been well regarded by Baffert. By Frosted, Frosteria is out of Hystericalady, a multiple graded stakes winner who won 11 of 23 starts and earned $2,390,556.

Hystericalady was sold for $3 million at the 2008 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Her most successful foal is Lady Montdore, who won the Grade 2 Glen Falls Handicap at Saratoga in 2018.

Frosteria was second in her debut in a maiden special weight race at 6 1/2 furlongs on Oct. 18 at Santa Anita. In the Nov. 7 race, Frosteria disputed the early pace, but yielded the lead in the final furlong to Nasreddine, losing by 1 1/4 lengths.

Nasreddine finished third in the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes on Dec. 5 at Los Alamitos.

Frosteria will not be fitted with blinkers for the first time Sunday. Abel Cedillo, who escaped injury when unseated in a race Thursday, has the mount. Cedillo rode the filly in her first two starts.

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On Nov. 7, Frosteria finished a neck in front of Moonlight d’Oro, who also will stretch out from sprints in Sunday’s race. Trained by Richard Mandella, Moonlight d’Oro was second on Aug. 7 at Del Mar in her first start and did not race again until the Nov. 7 race in which she closed from fifth in a field of nine.

Moonlight d’Oro should be better at the longer distance, Mandella said.

“It’s what we thought would be best for her,” Mandella said. “She’s doing very well.”

Moonlight d’Oro worked six furlongs in 1:12.80 on Dec. 5 at Santa Anita in preparation for Sunday’s race.

The same day at Santa Anita, Moraz worked five furlongs in 59.60 seconds from the gate. Trained by Michael McCarthy, Moraz will have her career debut in Sunday’s maiden race. She has worked steadily in recent weeks at Santa Anita.

“She seems like she’s got some things going for her,” McCarthy said. “I don’t think she’s fully cranked up, but I think she’ll give a decent account of herself.”