Eleven Drop In the Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita

Eleven Drop In the Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita: As we patiently wait for Keeneland and this year’s 2015 Breeders’ Cup races, Santa Anita is firing off some nice stakes races on Saturday, Oct. 10. We have a pretty full field of eleven for the 2015 Surfer Girl Stakes for two-year-old fillies going a mile on the grass, each ready to take home $100,000.

Last year, trainer Michael Stidham won the Surfer Girl Stakes with Her Emmynency after she ran a nice second to Sunset Glow in the Del Mar Debutante. Her Emmynency finished the race in a smashing 1:34.77 and was shelved for almost a year. She has since come back to race and recently ran second to Sharla Rae in the Grade I Del Mar Oaks. Her Emmynency is racing this weekend in the Grade I Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup stakes at Keeneland.

Santa Anita is hosting a Hot Wings & Craft Beer Festival this Saturday from noon until five o’clock. You can join them trackside for some of the coldest brews and tastiest hot wings in Southern California. There will be a variety of both offered. You can purchase a $33.00 package which includes Club House Admission, trackside seating, a racing program, tip sheet, six hot wings, and eight 3 oz. beer tastings. If you go online to www.santaanita.com to their events page, you can sign up for a promotional code and get $10.00 off your purchase. Bonus: The first 100 packages sold will receive a free $2.00 betting voucher. So, get going folks!

The 2015 Surfer Girl Stakes is the seventh race of the day on a card of ten with a start time of 4:00 p.m. PST. We also have another stakes race on the card with race five, the Zuma Beach Stakes, also run at a mile on the turf.

This looks like a jam-packed day of baby races at Santa Anita. We have a stunning field of eleven fillies lined up for a pretty wide open race.

Trainer Doug O’Neill sends in a daughter of Royal Applause (GB), Jakaby Jade, who recently won the Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes in her across-the-pond debut September 7. She won that race over One Last Shot who was second, Imflatoutsweet who was fifth, and Optimism and Hope who was sixth and who she will face again in this race. She also beat Gomo (O’Neill barn as well) who finished in third and went on to win the Grade I Alcibiades at Keeneland over Dothraki Queen last week. She gets Bejarano up this time as Flavian Pratt is on sick-leave with an injury. That is a plus as he’s jumping off Imflatoutsweet. Jakaby Jade is going to be tough to beat.

However, any horse can be beat. I like Bob Baffert’s Any Given Saturday baby One Last Shot to try and turn the tables. She finished second after stalking the pace and dueling with Jakaby Jade in the stretch. Prior to that she won a smashing 5¼-furlong maiden first time out by 3½ lengths. This will be her third career start, she retains jockey Martin Garcia, and Baffert is 33% in second starts over a route, so watch out. Her mom was a decent turf runner, and this will be her second start on the grass. I like that she has an outside post to keep her out of traffic as well even though she may have to make up ground.

Imflatoutsweet warrants another look as well. The daughter of Sky Mesa, who ran fifth to Jakaby Jade last out, is getting blinkers. She was the post time favorite at 5-2 and ran five-wide before being out-kicked. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer runs 27% winning as the beaten favorite, so you can wager because he’ll have her ready. I like that she’s coming out of post #8 just outside of Lucky Folie who looks to be quite speedy. She gets James Graham up with Bejarano bailing.

Since I’m going with those three out of the Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes, I’ll also use the Irish-bred lass Optimism and Hope who is now in the barn of Phil D’Amato. She ran sixth after a slow break in that race for trainer Stack. She closed from pretty far back to gain a little ground. Mike Smith stays up, and they break from the far outside. She should hit the board or possibly steal the show. She was only beaten by 4½ lengths. We’ll see what she brings to the table on her second run in the United States.

I hate leaving out #9 One True Kiss here with Espinoza up for trainer Peter Miller. The Miller barn has been red-hot this meet, running 82% overall in the money. Espinoza is firing at a 33% win rate. I can’t fault anyone using her with blinkers off either. She will be my backup if there is a scratch of the other four.

Jakaby Jade looks to be tough, but I’m hoping Baffert nails it with One Last Shot. I’ll be playing two rolling Pick 3s in the two-year-old races, Races 5-8. I’ll be using 5, 8,10, 11. I’ll be posting my plays the day of the race as I need to handicap the rest of the card Best of luck to them all on Saturday.

Surfer Girl Stakes 2015 Post Positions & Odds
Race 7 4:00 PM PT
1 Do the Dance 20-1 T.J.Pereira/G.Sherlock
2 Stays in Vegas 8-1 A.Solis/J.Hollendorfer
3 Mirage 6-1 T.Baze/ S.Callaghan
4 Aguacate 20-1 J.Talamo/V.Cerin
5 Jakaby Jade 3-1 R.Bejarano/D.O’Neill
6 Sooner Time 20-1 M.Gutierrez/P.Eurton
7 Lucky Folie 7-2 G.Stevens/R.Mandella
8 Imflatoutsweet* 5-1 J.Graham/J.Hollendorfer
9 One True Kiss * 12-1 V.Espinoza/P.Miller
10 One Last Shot 6-1 M.Garcia/B.Baffert
11 Optimism And Hope 12-1 M.Smith/P.D’Amato
*Blinkers On #8 I’mflatoutsweet
*Blinkers Off #9 One True Kiss