Impressive maiden winner Faiza will be supplemented to Starlet
Faiza, an impressive debut winner Nov. 12 at Del Mar, will be supplemented for $10,000 to the Grade 1, $300,000 Starlet Saturday at Los Alamitos.
The Starlet, which is for fillies at 1 1/16 miles, is the first of four stakes events for 2-year-olds to be run during the six-day winter Thoroughbred meet. Opening day is Friday. First post each racing day (Dec. 9-11 and 16-18) is 3:30 p.m. EST.
Owned by Michael Lund Petersen, who won the 2015 Los Alamitos Futurity (G1) with Mor Spirit, and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Faiza is a daughter of Girvin and the Smart Strike mare Sweet Pistol. She won by 3 1/2 lengths and covered six furlongs in 1:09.28 in her debut. She was a $725,000 purchase earlier this year at the Fasig-Tipton Midatlantic sale.
Baffert, who has won the Starlet five times in a row – Dream Tree (2017), Chasing Yesterday (2018), Bast (2019), Varda (2020) and Eda (2021) – also might start Doinitthehardway. Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, Doinitthehardway, a daughter of Street Sense, is a three-start maiden who has a pair of seconds and a third on her resume.
The main event for Sunday is the Soviet Problem Stakes. Nominees to the one-mile race for fillies bred or sired in California include Big Celebration, Cast Member, Grazed My Heart, Loyal to a Fault, Nyvan, Smiling Lady and Uncontrollable.
Entries for the Starlet will be taken Wednesday, and the Soviet Problem will be drawn Thursday.