Warren’s Veneda, Sunday Rules meet in Great Lady M.
CYPRESS, Calif. – The $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on Saturday serves different purposes for the Grade 1 winner Warren’s Veneda and the undefeated California-bred stakes winner Sunday Rules.
Warren’s Veneda, who won the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Invitational at Santa Anita in March, is being prepared for the $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 1, a Grade 1 race with major implications for the autumn.
Sunday Rules is looking to win her graded stakes debut in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes, run at 6 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares. A five-time winner, Sunday Rules has won two stakes for statebreds.
They are part of a solid field of nine that includes eight stakes winners. The one filly without a stakes win, Clearly Confused, was third in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes at Keeneland in April. Amaranth, Fantastic Style, and Harlington’s Rose won stakes at Santa Anita earlier this year.
KEY CONTENDERS
Warren’s Veneda (Last 3 Beyers: 96-93-99)
◗ A sprint-stakes winner in 2013, Warren’s Veneda has raced at a mile to 1 1/8 miles and won 3 of 6 starts since December. She won the Santa Margarita by 7 1/4 lengths in March but lost two subsequent races, finishing third of four as the 1-10 favorite in the Grade 1 Vanity Stakes at Santa Anita on May 9 and second to the two-time champion Beholder in the Grade 3 Adoration Stakes there June 13.
◗ Trainer Craig Lewis said the Great Lady M. is a prep race for a rematch with Beholder in the Clement Hirsch Stakes, which offers a fees-paid berth to the winner for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Oct. 30.
“My thought process is to use this as a prep,” Lewis said. “I like the timing of the race to bounce into the next one. We hope she gets something out of it.”
◗ Warren’s Veneda, who races for owner and breeder Ben Warren, has won 8 of 24 starts and earned $883,612. A 5-year-old, she will race from off the pace.
“We’re hoping to make the last run,” Lewis said.
Sunday Rules (Last 3 Beyers: 87-90-87)
◗ Sunday Rules, trained by Phil D’Amato, is expected to race near the front, challenging Amaranth, a speedy 4-year-old who scored a 43-1 upset in the Desert Stormer Stakes at Santa Anita on June 14. Amaranth drew the inside post for the Great Lady M.
“Her speed is an asset,” D’Amato said of Sunday Rules. “That rail horse won’t get a comfortable lead.”
◗ Owned by breeder Nick Alexander, Sunday Rules has earned $314,880. She won the Spring Fever Stakes for California-breds at Santa Anita on May 23 in a prep for Saturday’s race.
“This is our goal,” D’Amato said. “We’ve had this in mind for a little while. It’s definitely a competitive field. When you get into graded stakes, there are no gimmes. She won those Cal-bred races with ease. I think she had a little extra left.”