Take Charge Brandi Headlines Starlet
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Take Charge Brandi, the surprising winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 1 at Santa Anita, will return to California for the Grade I, $350,000-guaranteed Starlet Saturday, Dec. 13 at Los Alamitos.
Scheduled at 1 1/16 miles, the Starlet will be run for the first time at Los Alamitos after being offered as the Hollywood Starlet from 1981-2013 at Hollywood Park, which ceased live racing last Dec. 22.
Owned by Willis Horton and trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, Take Charge Brandi followed her gate-to-wire victory at 61-1 in the BC Juvenile Fillies with a win as the 2-1 favorite in the Grade III, $500,000 Delta Princess Nov. 22 at Delta Downs.
Another score in the Starlet – a race Lukas won a record five times at Hollywood Park, including four in a row (1994-1997) - would further strengthen her case for an Eclipse Award as the nation’s 2-year-old filly champion.
The race would also be a homecoming for Lukas, who trained 23 quarter horse world champions while based at Los Alamitos five decades ago. He switched full-time to thoroughbreds in 1978.
Lukas’ fellow Hall of Famers Bob Baffert and Jerry Hollendorfer could comprise as much as half of the Starlet field.
Baffert, who won the Starlet twice – Excellent Meeting (1998) and Habibti (2001) - in Inglewood, is likely to run Desi Arnaz Stakes runner-up Maybellene while Hollendorfer, who won the Starlet with Blind Luck in 2009 and 2011 with Killer Graces, is considering Desi Arnaz winner Achiever’s Legacy, Light the City, who won the Anoakia at Santa Anita in October, and Majestic Presence, third in the Delta Princess.
Others considered probable are the Todd Pletcher-trained Feathered, Danette and Conquest Eclipse, the fourth, fifth and seventh place finishers, respectively, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
The day after the Starlet, 2-year-olds bred or sired in California will be in the spotlight in the $200,000-guaranteed King Glorious Stakes.
Topping the list of nominees is the undefeated Acceptance, who was very impressive in two wins at Santa Anita, including a victory over the previously perfect Wake Up Nick in the Golden State Juvenile on the Breeders’ Cup undercard Nov. 1.
Owned by Robert Riggio and breeders Bud and Judy Johnston and trained by Don Warren, Acceptance is a son of Vronsky and the Perfect Mandate mare Allswellthatnswell. He broke his maiden by 13 ¼ lengths in his Oct. 5 debut.
The other King Glorious nominees are Comanche Ruler, Cornbread Red, Kluszewski, a maiden winner at Los Alamitos Dec. 4, Mischief Clem, P Club, Pulmarack and Stalk the Wildcat.
Entries for the Starlet will be taken Wednesday, Dec. 10 while entries for the King Glorious, which will be run at one mile after being contested at seven furlongs the past two years at Hollywood Park, will be taken Thursday, Dec. 11.
Source: Los Alamitos
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