This Ones for Phil and Il Villano share an odd distinction. Both sprinters, one based in New York and the other in Pennsylvania, recorded triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures at Laurel Park this season. Neither one of their outstandings efforts, however, was quite good enough to win a stakes.

This Ones for Phil and Il Villano will try to reach the Laurel winner’s circle Saturday following the $100,000 Dave’s Friend Stakes at six furlongs.

The Dave’s Friend shares top billing on a card with the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Championship.

STICKNEY, Ill. – A seventh horse has died after contracting the equine herpesvirus that has been circulating on the Hawthorne backstretch since mid-October.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Christmas came a day late for the Mandellas.

Santa Anita opened on Wednesday, and it was time to unwrap the presents for Richard Mandella, son Gary, and former assistant Dan Hendricks, trainers all. Richard won the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes with Jimmy Creed, Gary sent out Silentio to victory in the Sir Beaufort Stakes, and Hendricks got a stocking stuffer with Rintoo in the seventh.

“It means a lot,” Richard Mandella said in the winner’s circle after the Malibu. “Great day. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

ARCADIA, Calif. - Staying out of trouble – or specifically, racing in the clear – made Jimmy Creed a Grade 1 winner in the $301,000 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Wednesday.

Closing from fourth in a field of nine, Jimmy Creed ($19.20) raced wide to catch pacesetter Private Zone in the final furlong. He won the Malibu by three-quarters of a length, running seven furlongs in a quick 1:20.36.

ARCADIA, Calif. -  A month later than expected, Silentio made his stakes debut in the $150,000 Sir Beaufort Stakes at Santa Anita on Wednesday.

The patience paid off handsomely.

Silentio had an ideal trip under red-hot jockey Rafael Bejarano to win the Grade 2 Sir Beaufort Stakes for 3-year-olds over a mile on turf. 

Silentio ($8.40) held off a stubborn run from 3-1 favorite Battle Force to win by a half-length in 1:34.27 on a good turf course.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Eclipse Award voters who responsibly waited until the La Brea Stakes was run on Wednesday at Santa Anita will have far more to ponder after My Miss Aurelia, seeking to enhance her chances of capturing the 3-year-old filly title, was upset in the Grade 1, $300,000 race, finishing third to the victorious Book Review after contesting a vicious, three-way battle for the lead.

Fear the Kitten, trainer Mike Maker’s top 3-year-old prospect this winter, worked five furlongs in 1:00.30 on Wednesday but will not be among the starters in next Tuesday’s Gulfstream Park Derby. Fear the Kitten, an Illinois-bred son of Kitten’s Joy owned by Frank Irvin, won his first two career starts, including a one mile allowance race at Churchill Downs before finishing a late-running fifth in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club in his 2-year-old finale.

Long River, a three-quarter-length maiden winner Dec. 15, could wheel back in three weeks and run in the Grade 2, $200,000 Jerome Stakes, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Wednesday.

“We decided to leave him up there for the time being and look at the Jerome,” McLaughlin, who trains Long River for Darley Stable, said by phone from south Florida. “It’s a little quick back, but he’s doing well.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Saratoga Snacks denied Saginaw his opportunity to become the winningest horse in North America by himself in 2012 while giving trainer Gary Sciacca his first stakes victory in nearly six years.

Under jockey Ramon Dominguez, who missed the last month due to a foot injury, Saratoga Snacks led from start to finish to win Wednesday’s $75,000 Alex M. Robb Stakes for New York-breds at Aqueduct. Saratoga Snacks won by a length over longshot Socialsaul. It was 11 3/4 lengths back to Saginaw. Idle American and Swag Daddy completed the order of finish.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Nick Zito is never one to shy away from a challenge. If he did, he wouldn’t have won either the 2004 Belmont Stakes with Birdstone or the 2008 Belmont with Da’ Tara.