Miss Serendipity Set for Santa Barbara

Miss Serendipity is 7-2 on Jon White’s morning line to capture her first stakes race in the United States when she runs in Sunday’s Grade III Santa Barbara Handicap for older fillies and mares at 1 ¼ miles on turf.

Ron McAnally says the distance is ideal for the 6-year-old Argentine-bred mare, who rallied under Brice Blanc to finish an eventful third last out in the 1 1/8-mile Santa Ana Stakes on turf March 16.

Prior to that, she was fourth in the Grade II Buena Vista Stakes at one mile on grass after leading into the stretch, a strategy from which she did not benefit, according to McAnally.

“Brice rode her well,” the Hall of Fame conditioner said on an overcast Saturday morning at Clockers’ Corner. “Her best race in Argentina was at a mile and a quarter (an easy four-length victory last June) under 132 pounds.

“The time was strong (1:57 4/5) and she came from off the pace a little bit. The Santa Barbara is a mile and a quarter and to me it looks like a wide open race. Any one of three or four horses could win.”

While McAnally ranks third all-time at Santa Anita with 702 victories, he has never won the Santa Barbara. A victory would be career stakes win No. 114 for the Hall of Fame trainer, who is fourth all-time in that category.

The field for the Santa Barbara: Phonybooksrecords, Drayden Van Dyke, 20-1; Miss Serendipity, Brice Blanc, 7-2; Stormy Lucy, Rafael Bejarano, 2-1; Champagneandcaviar, Joe Talamo, 8-1; Floral Romance, Aaron Gryder, 8-1; Changethechannel, Tyler Baze, 6-1; Customer Base, Mike Smith, 5-2; and Topic, Corey Nakatani, 8-1.