Saturday's Best Bet: Itzel takes a bow in Sweet Life Stakes
Saturday’s ninth race at Santa Anita Park is the $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes for 3-year-old fillies dashing 6 1/2 furlongs on the turf course. The scheduled post time is 7:38 p.m. EST.
Click here for Santa Anita Park entries and results.
No. 7 Itzel (6-1) is interesting in her first start after the Peter Miller claim. She broke slowly, chased the pace and weakened in her special weight dirt sprint bow. She dropped into a maiden-claiming, turf sprint the second time out, and she wired the field while earning a decent speed rating. Her new pilot Umberto Rispoli probably will put her on the lead.
No. 4 Manhattan Jungle (5-2) won three turf sprints in France last year. Her first start in this country was the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, and she chased from and weakened in the lane as an 80-1 outsider. She shipped to California and completed the exacta in the Blue Norther Stakes last time. Cutting back in distance probably helps, and Frankie Dettori takes the call.
No. 10 Fun Money (6-1) is 0-for-7 with six minor awards on dirt. It looks like sprinting on turf is where it’s at with this one. She pressed and graduated by a length vs. local state-bred, turf sprinters last fall, and she battled on the pace from the outside post and held the place at this course and distance Jan. 8. Outside, early-pressing types win more than their fair share in downhill sprints.
No. 3 Havana Angel (5-1) was a decent turf sprinter in France and Great Britain. She was a bust in her two stakes starts in this country, but one was a turf route, and the other was an all-weather sprint. She is back doing what she does best, and Juan Hernandez has been winning races with Leonard Powell recently.
Get Jarrod's Santa Anita analysis.
Wagers
No. 7 to win
Exacta box 4-7
Trifecta 4-7/3-4-7-10/3-4-7-10
Recent Best Bet winners
Jan. 26 – Minnesota Ready/Zippin Gigi/Twirling Roses trifecta ($167.80)
Jan. 27 – Irish Prophet/Admiralty Place/Ridley's Major trifecta ($257)
Jan. 28 – Newgrange ($10.40), exacta ($30)
Jan. 29 – Lane Way ($6), exacta ($11.80)
Jan. 31 – Beren/Smooth B exacta ($3.60), trifecta ($11.20)
Feb. 2 – Sunday Breeze/Good Old Charlie exacta ($24.20)
Feb. 3 – Macadamia/Buzz of New York exacta ($21)
Feb. 5 – Prince Abama/Masteroffoxhounds exacta ($44.40)
Tuesday – Nurturing ($10.60)
Wednesday – Her World/Only Kidding exacta ($15.40)
Thursday – Stone Creator ($4.60), trifecta ($204)