Turbulent Descent tries dirt in Las Virgenes

If Turbulent Descent is to continue her unbeaten streak, then the Congrats filly will have to win her first start on dirt when she makes her three-year-old debut in the $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Santa Anita Park.

Trained by Mike Puype for Blinkers On Racing Stable, Turbulent Descent won all three starts as a two-year-old, including the Hollywood Starlet Stakes (G1). All three wins came at Hollywood Park on the synthetic Cushion Track surface, but Blinkers On founder Scott Sherwood said the surface change is not a concern.

“You always have the situation of the potential for dirt in her face and her not being used to that, but we thought it would be better to train her at her home track [Hollywood],” Sherwood said. “It’s hard to replicate dirt in your face during a work, anyway.”

Congrats was the leading freshman sire of 2010, and both of the A.P. Indy stallion’s Grade 1 wins have come courtesy of winners on a synthetic surface, though many of his stakes-placed horses have performed on dirt, including Scarlet Starlet, who was third in the 2011 Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita.