Stevens Rides Branding in Santa Ysabel

Gary Stevens is optimistic that maiden winner Branding will give a good account of herself when she advances to stakes competition in Saturday’s Grade III Santa Ysabel for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles. The daughter of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense trained by Tom Proctor for the Glen Hill Farm rallied to win a maiden allowance race at seven furlongs by 2 ½ lengths, giving Stevens his first win on Jan. 12 after a seven-year retirement.

It was Branding’s first start since last June 28, when she was off slowly from the inside in her debut race and finished a well-beaten eighth at Betfair Hollywood Park.

“She finished up running the right way, so you’d expect her to stretch out fine,” Stevens said of the maiden allowance score.

“She’s a filly with a lot of class and a lot of quality. It’s a big step up but we’ll see what happens. I’m in good hands with the trainer.”

The field for the Santa Ysabel, which goes as the fourth race: Escape Act, Martin Garcia, 4-1; Fiftyshadesofhay, Rafael Bejarano, 8-1; Scarlet Strike, Joe Talamo, 2-1; Switch to the Leads, Julien Leparoux, 10-1; Branding, Stevens, 3-1; and Heir Kitty, Garrett Gomez, 9-5.