Victory in return puts Spectator on track for stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – The graded stakes-winning filly Spectator returned to the races with a game victory in an allowance race Sunday at Santa Anita and has several options for moving back into stakes company, trainer Phil D’Amato said after the race.

D’Amato said he’d wait to see how quickly Spectator recovered from the effort, but that he might consider running her in major stakes for 3-year-old fillies like the Fantasy at Oaklawn Park next month or the Eight Belles at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby weekend. The Santa Anita Oaks on April 7 would require her coming back in just 20 days. She has yet to go two turns. The Eight Belles is a sprint. The Fantasy is around two turns.

Spectator, a daughter of Jimmy Creed owned by Rick and Sharon Waller, beat older runners Sunday, covering 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.12 while beating the 4-year-old filly Yuvetsi by a neck.

“Very happy with her,” D’Amato said. “Shows she has that fight to win. It was the perfect prep. We have a bunch of options. We’ll make a decision on how aggressive we want to be. The Fantasy, Eight Belles, those are on our radar.”

Spectator won her first start last year at Santa Anita and then took the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar before finishing third in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 2. Her race Sunday was her first start since then.

“Minor stuff. Bone bruising,” D’Amato said of the layoff. “She came back as good as ever.”