Santa Anita Oaks J

AMERICAN

GRADED STAKES PREVIEWS

BLIND LUCK (Pollard's Vision) will face seven rivals in Saturday's $250,000

Santa Anita Oaks (G1), and we can't pick against the talented miss. Already a

winner of three Grade 1 events, including a seven-length trouncing of the

Hollywood Starlet S. (G1) to close out her juvenile campaign, the chestnut lass

opened 2010 with a nose victory in the Las Virgenes S. (G1). She just got up in

that one-mile test, and will probably relish stretching back out to 1 1/16 miles

in this one. Rafael Bejarano has the return call, and the pair should find

themselves getting their picture taken in the winner's circle.

COZI ROSIE (Pleasantly Perfect) will likely be keeping Blind Luck company in

the dash to the wire. The late-running lass broke her maiden and captured an

allowance/optional claimer both over the Pro-Ride and at the 8 1/2 furlong

distance. Trained by John Sadler, she'll be making her stakes bow in this spot,

but her 91 BRIS Speed rating in on par with other more experienced rivals in

this one, indicating she'll find the step up in class to be no obstacle. Mike

Smith could guide the chestnut filly to an upset.

ZILVA's (Successful Appeal) only win to date came on the turf at Saratoga in

September, and she's not been able to finish on the board since. However, The

Graham Motion trainee has been close in her finishes, so we're willing to give

her a shot in the exotics here. She ran a one-paced fifth in the Santa Ysabel S.

(G3), but probably needed a freshener off the layoff. We expect to see a much

better performance this time around with Jose Valdivia Jr. in the saddle for the

first time.

CRISP (El Corredor) won the Santa Ysabel while making her stakes bow, but

could do no better than fourth of five to Blind Luck in the Las Virgenes last

out. One of three entrants in this race for Sadler, the dark bay doesn't appear

to have the finishing kick of our top pick, but could still factor in the top

three under Joel Rosario. RIVIERA CHIC (Medaglia d'Oro) was a six-length winner

February 10 going 1 3/16 miles on Wolverhampton's synthetic surface in England

and will be making her stateside debut in this spot. She's not been given much

time to acclimate herself to her new surroundings, but might earn a check with

Michael Baze aboard.

SISTER DAWN (Indian Chant) just broke her maiden by 1 1/4 lengths going 5 1/2

furlongs on the Pro-Ride, but is taking a huge step up in class here. We'll

watch for now to see how she handles stakes competition. WARREN'S JITTERBUG

(Affirmative) took nine tries to earn her first win and doesn't look fast enough

to keep up with these.

ALL DUE RESPECT (Value Plus) was a nice 7 1/2-length maiden winner at Fair

Grounds in her final start for trainer Ronny Werner and will be making her

synthetic debut here for new conditioner Kathy Walsh. The dark bay miss has been

working well over the Cushion Track at Hollywood Park, recording a pair of

bullets in February, but the Pro-Ride is not Cushion Track. Garrett Gomez in the

saddle can only help her chances, but her status on this synthetic surface is

still an unknown. We're willing to just watch in this spot until we get an idea

of how she'll handle the track.