Del Mar: Locals take on shippers in Matriarch on closing day

Locals Ag Bullet and Medoro are set to take on east-based rivals In Our Time and Ozara in Sunday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares, 3 years old and up, going one mile on the turf. The Matriarch is part of the FanDuel Racing Turf Festival on closing day at Del Mar.

Coming off a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 1, Ag Bullet will be stretching out after four previous sprint tries. Her last time going two turns was in last year’s Matriarch, where she came in third by one length on Dec. 1. She resurfaced after a five-month layoff in Churchill Downs’ Unbridled Sydney (G3), cutting back to 5 1/2 furlongs and finishing a nonthreatening seventh.

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Ag Bullet came back sprinting a month later to add a couple of graded victories to her resume, starting with the Jaipur Stakes (G1) at Saratoga, and went wire to wire in the Ladies Turf Sprint (G2) at Keeneland. A 5-year-old filly by Twirling Candy, Ag Bullet is campaigned by Richard Baltas for Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran. She has a record of 16-8-1-2 overall with $2,941,228 in earnings. She will be ridden by John Velazquez, who was aboard for her Jaipur victory.

A consistent 4-year-old filly out of the Peter Eurton barn, Medoro has never been worse than third in all her starts. Breaking her maiden at first asking, she went on a three-race winning streak, stepping into stakes company and taking down the Blue Norther, China Doll and the Providencia (G3), all at Santa Anita. She returned to her winning ways this year in the Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar on July 20. Medoro’s most recent outing was the Goldikova Stakes (G3), where she finished third by 1 1/2 lengths on Nov. 1. Owned by C R K Stables LLC, Medoro sports a record of 11: 5-3-3 with $502,600 in earnings. She will have Umberto Rispoli in the irons.

Coming west for Saffie Joseph Jr., In Our Time, a speedy daughter of Not This Time, has hit the board in her last four starts for Resolute Racing and Miller Racing Inc. She is seeking her first stakes victory and has maintained good company in her bids for graded status. Coming in third in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Filly and Mare Turf Invitational (G2) on Jan. 25, she led the way but was outkicked down the stretch by Be Your Best. On Aug. 30, In Our Time was third in Ladies Turf Sprint (G3) at Kentucky Downs, beaten 3 1/4 lengths by Goldikova winner Special Wan. After an optional-claiming allowance win at Kentucky Downs, she was second last out in the Franklin (G2) at Keeneland.

In Our Time will have a new rider aboard for the task in Javier Castellano.