Fittingly enough, the Valentines Day feature at Santa Anita Park is the $75,000 Sweet Life Stakes a race for three year old fillies carded at six and half furlongs on the downhill turf course.
5/2 favorite Swift Lady will try not to break any hearts as she goes for her third straight win while making her stakes debut. Trained by Bob Baffert, the speedy daughter of Awesome of Course finished second in her first start against maiden special weight foes in September at Del Mar, but rattled off a pair of wins after that including last-out allowance score January 15 at Santa Anita. Martin Garcia will be aboard with the pair set to break from post eight – a typically advantageous outside spot going down the hill at Santa Anita.
Just to the favorite’s inside is 7/2 second-choice Jeremy’s Legacy who has just a maiden victory to her credit in five career starts, and finished second to Swift Lady in the January 15 allowance event. The Doug O’Neill trainee tried the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante in her only other try against stakes competition, finishing seventh. Top jockey Rafael Bejarano will be in the irons for the rematch against Swift Lady.
Nodiac (5/1) will also benefit from an outside post as the Phil D’Amato trainee goes for her second victory in four starts following a maiden-breaking score January 17 at Santa Anita. The win followed a third and a runner-up performance indicating the kind of consistency that could make Nodiac a viable play despite the hike in class.
The Grade 2 $1.25 million Pennsylvania Derby features the two biggest names from the Triple Crown trail September 24 at Parx as a field of 12 gathers in one of the most intriguing betting races of the year.
The $1 million Cotillion Stakes September 24 at Parx features a true clash of the titans as the six-horse field is headlined by the undefeated, five-time grade 1 winner Songbird who figures to face the most stern challenge of her career.
In a completely wide open renewal of the Presque Isle Mile September 18 at Presque Isle Downs, 13 runners including the also-eligible will contest the eight furlong trip over synthetic footing.
Champion Songbird is set to make her much-anticipated return to the races in the $200,000 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita on Saturday. The Grade 2 event will be run at a mile and a sixteenth and has attracted a field of seven.
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