Stevens Likes Pontchatrain's Chances

Gary Stevens hopes to continue the remarkable success he enjoyed in his comeback year of 2013 when he rides Pontchatrain for trainer Tom Proctor in Sunday’s Grade II Monrovia Stakes for fillies and mares at about 6 ½ furlongs on Santa Anita’s unique downhill turf course, where she is unbeaten in two starts.

“She’s a quality filly; she comes home running every time,” Stevens said of the 4-year-old daughter of War Front, who won the Grade III Sen. Ken Maddy last Nov. 2 after taking the Unzip Me Sept. 28, each over Santa Anita’s venue that features a right-hand turn before crossing a patch of dirt and returning to the grass for the run through the homestretch.

Pontchatrain has finished worse than third only once in six career starts, and was beaten less than two lengths on that occasion, when she ran fourth in Del Mar’s one-mile Sandy Blue Handicap after she was bumped at the start.

Probable for the Monrovia: Camryn Kate, Tyler Baze; Ciao Bella Luna, no rider; Judy In Disguise, no rider; Kindle, Rafael Bejarano; Pontchatrain, Gary Stevens; Purim’s Dancer, Joe Talamo; and Sky High Gal, Corey Nakatani.