Enola Gray headlines Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint

Multiple stakes winner Enola Gray heads a field of seven older fillies and mares in Saturday’s $150,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint Stakes at Santa Anita going 6 ½ furlongs down the Camino Real hillside Turf Course.

Trained by Phil D’Amato and bred in California by owner Nick Alexander, Enola Gray, almost exclusively a dirt horse, will switch to turf for the second time in her seven career and will attempt yet another state-series eligible stakes win. A winner of the Cal Cup Distaff Handicap going six and a half furlongs down the hillside on Oct. 15, Enola Gray will again team with Tyler Baze in her quest to pick up a fourth overall stakes victory.

The daughter of Grazen out of the More Than Ready dam, Unsung Heroine, Enola Gray, a 4-year-old filly is 7-4-2-1 lifetime with $359,100 in earnings.

Smoove It, the most experienced in the field by far with 25 career starts will again return to sprinting on Saturday, back to a course she knows well. The 6-year-old daughter of Square Eddie out of the Distorted Humor dam, Smoove, is trained by Doug O’Neill and was bred in California by owner Paul Reddam of Reddam Racing, LLC.

A course specialist of sorts, Smoove It owns three wins down the hillside, including a victory in the Irish O’Brien Stakes last March and has an overwhelming “in the money” percentage of 75. Though off since May, Smoove It returns, looking for her second stakes win on Saturday with Mario Gutierrez again set to ride.

Smoove It is 26-5-5-4 lifetime with $341,265 in earnings.

The field, including jockeys and weights, for the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint Stakes 

Race 2 – Approximate post time of 12:15 p.m.

1.  Desert Steel, Rafael Bejarano, 122

2.  Enola Gray, Tyler Baze, 124

3.  How Unusual, Kent Desormeaux, 122

4.  All That Heat, Flavien Prat, 120

5.  Tale of Papa Nick, Drayden Van Dyke, 122

6.  Late ‘n Left, Edwin Maldonado, 120

7.  Smoove It, Mario Gutierrez, 124

8.  Lucy De, Stewart Elliott, 120

9.  Cuddle Alert, Agapito Delgadillo, 122