Rodeo Drive Stakes (BC) (Grade 1)- $300.000 Purse
SA- For Fillies and Mares Three Years Old and Upward
One Mile and One Quarter on the Turf
September 29, 2018

This Saturday, we will see plenty of great racing at SA, and one of the races to watch is pretty big in determining who will get into the BC Fillies and Mares Turf. That race is the 14th running of the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes. Last year, this race was won by Wicked Heat, who is one of several greats that picked up a victory in the past of this race. Despite the impressiveness of the past winner list, most of the winners of this stake of had similar finishes that Wicked Heat did in the BC Fillies and Mares Turf, and that is, a disappointing one. No winners of this race have won the BC F & M Turf, and in fact only one past winner has ever hit the board in it. You don’t have to go back too far for that one, as it happened in 2015 with Altered Skeleton, then for Chili King Stables. The points for this race are crucial, as the cutoff line is tight, though the winner will be looking to buck a little history in the BC once they get there. It’s a field of eleven, let’s meet them!

#1- Last Weeks Gossip (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by C J Lanerie)- Picked up for a great claiming price, just $20.000 in February despite showing potential prior to the race. My first instinct was too see how many claims were in there for her, and it was just the one. She’s raced well this year, but the highlight on the resume is still just an allowance on May. Eventually, she’s going to win a big race, and seems to be a little better when she is closer to the front in the early stages. Not sure if this is going to be that big race she wins, though. Looking to pick up her first BC points.

#2- Sprinkles (Mb Stables, ridden by J M Campbell)- Makes her turf debut in this race, and what a tough way to do it! There’s nothing wrong with how she was running on the main track, and has recently been rotating wins and non-wins. Though I would never doubt for a millisecond anything that Mb Stables enters, there is not much publicly available to make an educated guess on how she will handle the turf. We’ll just go on trainer reputation with this one, and figure it will work out well. Naturally, she has no BC F & M Turf points at this time.

#3- Rain Down (John Henry, ridden by R Chirinos)- The filly by Rains Of Castamere has been excellent in her five starts this season, and we can add in her last start of 2017 to make it six. In those, she has never failed to be a part of the exacta, though the trainer would like more wins then places. The race she did get was a small $50.000 stake, which was used to catapult her into bigger races, as well as a move to the grass. Two more second place finishes resulted with the most recent being the $225.000 Wonder Where for ON-breds. The skeptical side will point out the smaller fields she has run in. Has no BC F & M Turf points.

#4- Quiver Pond (Estero Farms, ridden by Alan Garcia)- She has nothing to prove in this race. Her ticket to the BC Fillies and Mares turf is already punched thanks to winning the Grade 1 Beverly D at AP last month. This race is nothing more then to keep her sharp, and try to get that winners purse. A win here would make her a great candidate to break the history of the race of Rodeo Drive winners generally running poorly in the BC. Either that, or the trainer may hope for a second and not have to worry about the possible jinx.

#5- Raven Rock (Team 7 Illusions, ridden by A Beschizza)- The breeding on this one, plus the excellent conformation makes you wonder just how much Team 7 Illusions can get when he sells this one as he closes down. By Cherokee Sunset, and out of Hydro, plenty of reason to like her. A win in the Rodeo Drive would make that price tag go up even more. So far, her best race came last year as two year old. Reports are that she has been in a graded stake previously, though many may not have seen her actually finish in the DEL Handicap. This crowd might be too much for her, but she is developing, and you have to love her potential, given the pedigree, to step it up.

#6- Youthful Presence (Mb Stables, ridden by L Saez)- Her name definitely sums her up here. This is just the fifth race of her career, and she is coming along rather nicely. The trainer never seems to have a shortage of this type of horse this late in the year. With two wins in her first three starts, she was faced with the tough task of taking on a tough field at the Grade 1 DMR Oaks, and she would run second. The youngster looks to take another leap forward here and build on the six BC F & M Turf points that she earned from the DMR Oaks. If she is still yet to peak, she is very dangerous in this field.

#7- Diplomatic Command (Allinthegate, ridden by T C Baze)- Everything was going great for this one until her last start, the Grade 2 Lake Placid. There we learned that she does not like it wet. Or at least, we hope that is the only reason for that performance. Sending her to California was a good way to likely keep from running a wet track again, and it will be sunny on race day. Now we will see if the filly that won the Grade 3 Lake George at SAR can show up. She is 50th on the BC F & M Turf leaderboard, with four points.

#8- Trump Princess (Winning Link Stables, ridden by F Geroux)- She began the year on a great run of form, and it saw her win a pair of Grade 2 events. The biggest of them came on KYO day winning the $300.000 CD Distaff Turf Mile. Her approval ratings dropped after that, and her last three races have seen her be at the back of the field: 8th of 10, 10th of 11, and 5th of 5. The speed figure in the last race, the Ballston Handicap, shows a concerning drop. Needs to get back to her winning ways, but there is no let up in the level of competition she is facing.

#9- Peppermint Miss (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by M J Sanchez)- Speaking of the Ballston Handicap, the winner that day was Peppermint Miss, as she went wire to wire to top that field of five. She has adapted well to her new trainer after being purchased in private sales in May, from Allinthegate for $350.000. Also had a much better run in the Grade 1 Diana then the race line will appear, as it was one of those classic HRP finishes where they all were jumbled up from 3rd to 9th. Killer Angels, who she was barely ahead of there, impressively bounced back in the KD Ladies Turf, and I can see Peppermint Miss doing the same. Seventh on the leaderboard with 17 points, she should be safely in, but still looks to pick up more.

#10- Commanding Faith (Crocker Ggs, ridden by K Frey)- Last year, the Prudent Commander filly made it into the BC Fillies and Mares Turf, and she’d love to return and improve on her finish that day. It’s been another good year for her, with three wins in five starts, highlighted by the Grade 1 Gamely. She is a horse for the course, as she has won the last four races she has run in at SA and they are all graded stakes, and over her career here, she is 4-for-7, with the non-wins all being second place runs. One thing I have noticed in writing up these races is that horses who seem to shine at one track, as long as they are on good overall form as she is, will continue to do so. She is my pick to win, and build on her 20 points (4th on the BC F & M leaderboard).

#11- Drop Her Off (Mb Stables, ridden by J Lezcano)- Rounding it out, we get the third Mb Stables entry, a filly that searches for her first graded win. She has managed to do well in just about every other type of race, including the ungraded $100.000 River Memories against a small field at BEL. Though, when she’s been in graded, she has not only not won, she hasn’t, with one exception, hit the board. There is time to improve, and while she can top other fields, when up against the best, she needs to be better. This would be a good time to start!

Prediction: 10-4-9-6

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES