Eight Rings, Bellafina resurface in Oaklawn's sprint stakes

With a lack of racing back home in California, a pair of Grade 1 winners will get their seasons started Saturday at Oaklawn Park, leading the list probables for a pair of six-furlong events.

$100,000 Bachelor Stakes

Eight Rings, away since he faded to seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, has been in and out of favor with trainer Bob Baffert since then, needing time off during the winter before an auspicious return to the work tab.

A winner around two turns in the American Pharoah Stakes (G1), the son of Empire Maker will cut back coming off the bench in this sprint for 3-year-olds. He signaled readiness as the Baffert barn reunited with jockey Martin Garcia last Friday. Under Garcia, Eight Rings worked five furlongs from the gate in a bullet 59 seconds at Oaklawn.

A dominant 5 1/2-furlong debut winner last August at Del Mar, Eight Rings is campaigned by the same partnership including SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables and others as other prominent Baffert 3-year-olds Authentic and Charlatan. Eight Rings also has Coolmore in his corner; he’s scheduled to stand at stud there upon retirement.

In the Bachelor, which draws Wednesday, Eight Rings will face the local prep winner for this spot, Tom Amoss-trained Long Weekend. He won the March 21 Gazebo Stakes to improve to 3-for-4 lifetime.

Allowance winner Big Returns, also a stakes winner last summer at Del Mar, is on the also-eligible list of another Oaklawn race on Friday. He could run there or in the Bachelor while 2-for-3 Echo Town climbs the class ladder off a March 13 victory for the connections of Steve Asmussen and L and N Racing.

The Simon Callaghan-trained daughter of Quality Road also posted a local work, breezing a half mile Saturday under jockey Joe Talamo in 47.80. She’s campaigned by Kaleem Shah and, as with Eight Rings, more recently has Coolmore aboard the ownership group.

Bellafina will meet a much stiffer rival, however, given the presence of Mia Mischief in the Carousel. When selling for $2.4 million last November at Fasig-Tipton’s sale, the 5-year-old Into Mischief mare transferred to Stonestreet Stables and returned to trainer Steve Asmussen. First off the bench, she distanced 2 1/4 lengths clear in a March 20 allowance over this course and at the distance.

Asmussen could also send a newcomer to his barn, Talk Veuve to Me, out in the Carousel. Acquired by Stonestreet for $1.3 million last November, the 5-year-old is multiple graded stakes-placed.

A pair of speedy stakes winners from the McLean Robertson barn, Hotshot Anna and Amy’s Challenge, stand to add depth to the Carousel field that also draws Wednesday.