Surface and medication changes prove boost to Princess Warrior

ARCADIA, Calif. - In early summer, after Princess Warrior lost her eighth consecutive race, trainer Ken McPeek took drastic action. He took the filly off the anti-bleeder medication Lasix.

He also moved her to turf, and those changes led to rapid success. Princess Warrior won her first start without Lasix in an allowance race on turf at Ellis Park in July. Since then, Princess Warrior has started only in stakes, including a win in the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 23.

Saturday, Princess Warrior will start in the fourth Grade 1 race of her career in the $300,000 American Oaks on turf at Santa Anita.

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McPeek knows the American Oaks well. He won the race last year with Daddy’s Lil Darling. Princess Warrior is McPeek’s first starter at Santa Anita since Daddy’s Lil Darling.

“She’s coming to this race better than Daddy’s Lil Darling did last year,” McPeek said on Wednesday. “Her form has continued to improve after we took her off Lasix.”

Owned by Evan Trommer and his sons Andrew and Matthew, Princess Warrior has won 3 of 14 starts and earned $410,741. The Mrs. Revere Stakes, at 1 1/16 miles on turf, was Princess Warrior’s first stakes win. She raced primarily on dirt in her first nine starts.

McPeek said Princess Warrior “seemed to have some adverse reaction” to Lasix last summer. “We took her off Lasix and moved her to the grass.”

Princess Warrior should not have a problem with the 1 1/4-mile distance of the American Oaks. She finished second to Osare in the Dueling Grounds Oaks at 1 5/16 miles on turf at Kentucky Downs in September.

Princess Warrior is one of five stakes winners in a field of nine in the American Oaks, along with Californiagoldrush, Colonia, Kodiak West, and Paved.

Californiagoldrush won the Grade 2 Sands Point Stakes at Belmont Park on Sept. 15 and will start in the longest race of her career on Saturday. The most intriguing runner is Amandine, who was entered for Wednesday’s $75,000 Lady of Shamrock Stakes at a mile on turf for 3-year-old fillies and would be making a rapid turnaround.