Las Virgenes

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

Champion STARDOM BOUND (Tapit) will make her sophomore debut in Saturday's

$300,000 Las Virgenes S. (G1) at Santa Anita. Now in the barn of Bobby Frankel

after being conditioned by Chris Paasch in her freshman season, the stylish gray

is clearly the one to beat in here and will be especially tough with anything

resembling her best. The Kentucky-bred brought a bid of $5.7 million at the

Fasig-Tipton November sale and should start earning some of that money back with

a triumph in here. Mike Smith retains the mount on superstar.

CENTURY PARK (General Meeting) appears to be the main threat to the top

choice for Bob Baffert, fresh off a score in the Santa Ysabel S. (G3). The

Florida-bred has excellent tactical speed and should be in the mix from the

outset beneath Tyler Baze.

SAUCEY EVENING (More than Ready) has an excellent turn of foot and has run

only one flat race for sharp conditioner Graham Motion. The California-bred

chestnut is void of early foot and has the same running style as the favorite,

so it's hard to back her to win this. We wouldn't be surprised, however, to see

the miss get a piece late under Garrett Gomez.

Blue Norther S. heroine NAVIGATOR (Stormy Atlantic) has run three solid races

in succession for Ron Ellis and is tucked on the rail for this engagement. The

expensive bay has proven that she can handle this one-mile trip and she fired a

bullet six panels in advance of this demanding test, so she has a big chance to

hit the board with a sensible trip.

The wildcard PINKARELLA (Malibu Moon) was a superb maiden winner against a

decent bunch for Doug O'Neill and has a chance to dictate this race from the

outset. We don't see too many horses win by 5 1/4 lengths in their first start,

and she skipped an easier spot to run here, so we feel compelled to give her a

long look despite her lack of seasoning. Joel Rosario has the call atop the bay,

who is drawn widest in this affair.

TORO BONITO (El Corredor) was third in the Hollywood Starlet S. (G1) two back

and is a useful sort, but her best hopes will be for another Grade 1-placing for

Baffert.

HAKA (Dynaformer) finished a solid second as a slight favorite in the Santa

Ysabel last out for Christophe Clement, but we'd rather see the improving bay go

long rather than this one-mile distance. The filly's BRIS Speed numbers are a

bit low compared to her rivals, so we'll limit her use to the lower rungs of the

gimmicks.

AFRICAN SKIES (GB) (Johannesburg), a Group 3 vixen in Great Britain as a

juvenile filly, will make her stateside bow for trainer Patrick Biancone. We're

not sure how to gauge the dark bay in here, other than saying we'd watch the

toteboard before making any drastic decisions. Joe Talamo will be in the irons.

NAN (High Yield) outran her odds when third in the Santa Ynez S. (G2) and has

shown steady improvement for Craig Dollase. She needs another step forward,

however, to challenge for the win on this occasion.