Donna Veloce back from a 'mental break' to lead the Santa Ysabel

Simon Callaghan has the favorite and a longshot ready to roll Sunday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

The favorite in the 1 1/16-mile feature for 3-year-old fillies is Donna Veloce, 4-5 on Jon White’s morning line, while the longshot, albeit a mild one, is Paige Anne, listed at 8-1.

Donna Veloce, an $800,000 daughter of Uncle Mo, will be making her first start since running second by a half-length to Bast as the odds-on favorite in the Starlet Stakes (G1) at Los Alamitos on Dec. 7.

Paige Anne will be making her stakes debut coming off two straight victories, the latter by six lengths on Golden Gate’s synthetic Tapeta surface.

“I gave her some time off after the Starlet, just a mental break,” Callaghan said of Donna Veloce. “She’s come back in good order.”

The trainer was unconcerned about the inside post against six rivals.

“She drew the rail in the Breeders’ Cup (Juvenile Fillies_ and she ran very well,” he pointed out, alluding to her neck defeat by eventual Eclipse Award champion British Idiom.

“Paige Anne is improving and she tries hard. She won her last two and I thought she deserved a shot.”

Post time for the Santa Ysabel, a 50-20-10-5 points prep for the Kentucky Oaks, is 7:11 p.m. ET for Race 7 on the card. It precedes the April 4 Santa Anita Oaks (G2) expected to include recent graded winner Venetian Harbor.