Las Cienegas Stakes – Grade III
6 1/2  Turf Graded Stake Purse $100.000 Fillies & Mares Four-Year-Old And Upward. At SA

Las Cienegas Stakes has been around a long time. It was first run in 2004 and won by my old chat partner Whitewater Stables with Age of Sail. Bill won again in 2010 with Chateau Thierry. In 2005 and 2006 it was my old stablemate Australia Wide with the legendary Darling Harbour and Pretty In Pink. In more recent years, more familiar names the likes of La Canada Racehorses, TwinTowersRacing and Our Athletes to name a few have won. Last year the race went to Mb Stables with Miss Fury. So, it looks as though only TwinTowersRacing is back looking for a second win in the race. Here’s the field:

Horse                                  Owner                               Odds  SRF

Antares                               Alydar Stables                   *7-5        93

My Beautiful Ballon            Maxmillion Farm                 6-1        89

Gutter Black                         Mo Mentum Farm              3-1        97

Sweet Dilemma                  Maxmillion Farm                 6-1        92

Crocogator                         TwinTowersRacing              5-1        94

Silk Road                            Big Guns Stables             10-1        91

Korbut                                Calia Stable                     20-1        94

1  My Beautiful Ballon                         Maxmillion Farm                  89

Ignore My Beautiful Ballon because she ran seventh in an allowance race last out, and you are overlooking a big threat in this lightly raced filly. That was the first time she encountered soft going, she just did not like it at all. So, maybe I’m wrong (gee, imagine that), but I’m throwing that race out, and what do I have left? Just a filly that won the grade three Matron at AQU in the third race of her life and went on to place in all but one of her races until that allowance fiasco, including an impressive second-place finish in the grade three Glen Cove at AQU just before the allowance race. And let’s not overlook the allowance race about a year ago where she scored a one-length victory on this very course. She has every chance of taking this as long as it stays dry.

2  Gutter Black                    Mo Mentum Farm                97

Gutter Black is good. Good enough to appear in the BC Distaff in November and bravely lead them to the far turn before running out of petrol. A couple of things to consider, though: that was on dirt, as have every single one of her 21 races been; that was a route, as have all but a few of her races been. She is going to step on that racetrack and look down and wonder what the hell is going on. Thought we were going to race, not pasture. Let’s hope she’s not equally surprised by the distance as she’s loafing for a big finish a mile later. Most of her earnings have come after Mo Mentum Farm picked her up in a $80.000 claim from Xcel Racing who ironically only owned her for one race. Under Mo’s guidance, she has won two graded races and brought home several other graded checks. The last time she had a public turf work was in November of 2024. It compared favorably to her dirt works, so it promises she can make the cross over on surface. Now, just the distance to worry about. A good mare like this in this game should make the conversion OK.

3   Silk Road                  Big Guns Stables               91

After a brief flirtation with route racing, Silk Road returned to sprinting and showed off by winning the $125.000 Fury Stakes at WO. Thing is here, this lightly raced filly has never raced on grass. In her life, she has one public turf work, and it was done on soft, so it’s worthless as an indicator. And as far as the filly is concerned, she probably thinks grass is something to munch on rather than to race on, especially on the pastoral downhill course at SA. Another thing is her current form is a bit off. After winning the Fury Stakes by length, she has lost her following four races by a length. Doesn’t matter the placing, second to seventh, doesn’t matter the level grade one to allowance, always a length defeat… weird.

4   Antares                  Alydar Stables                93

Do not be fooled by all those recent route races by Antares, this is a serious turf sprinter which has amassed over $1,500.000 doing just that. She once won five turf sprints in a row, won multiple stakes races and even raced against the boys in the BC Turf Sprint. She was one of the best bargains to come out of the Smokey Stover Dollar Giveaway. The recipient of that luck was Onlineracingclub.com who sold her to Alydar Stables for $100,000, who immediately set about testing her on graded turf routes, but not before they made sure she was OK at sprinting with a second-place finish in the grade three Sidney at CD. After that, she did just fine with routes until they may have gone too far with the grade one Matriarch after winning the grade three Goldikova Stakes at DMR. Now, it’s back to her roots where she should be a standout.

5   Korbut              Calia Stable                        94

Korbut was claimed out of race number eleven from Spb Racing for $15.000. and Calia Stable has spent the following nine races building her up to stakes level. Finally, at race twenty she made her stakes debut and placed third in the $125.000 LCD Ladies at FG. Now, she steps up to graded company and drops back to sprinting. It’s not that she’s unfamiliar with the distance, it’s just that it’s been a long time. The nice this about the downhill at SA for horses dropping back in distance is it’s pretty long at 6 1/2 furlongs for a turf sprint. That should help her a bit.

6   Sweet Dilemma         Maxmillion Farm            92

Lightly raced Sweet Dilemma took some time off turf racing and tried a couple of dirt graded stakes, placing in the grade two Honorable Miss Handicap at SAR before traveling to DMR to return to grass with a victory in a turf allowance sprint. All in all, she hasn’t been meeting the kind or quantity of competition as those I’ve placed above her in my handicap and will have her hooves full keeping up with this bunch.

7   Crocogator                          TwinTowersRacing                      94

Crocogator hasn’t had a career that looks anything like a sprinter, and yet, that last allowance race at 5 1/2 furlongs at FG was a corker, and that was her second turf sprint victory in a row, the other coming at LAD five races earlier. However, it could have been the level of competition. Speaking of which, she doesn’t look like a graded stakes runner. That would be because she has never been in a graded stakes race. In fact, she has had only one stakes attempt in her life… did pretty well: third, beaten a length in the $100.000 Violet Stakes at MTH. She spent the first ten races of her life trying to break her maiden, so if you think about it, she has only had eight races to settle on a direction for her career to go and that last race may have done it. Like I said that FG race was impressive, and she hails from a stable that likes to upset this kind of race with this kind of horse. Don’t turn your back.

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES