Book Review has shown her versatility in winning two stakes at
distances from a mile and an eighth to seven furlongs, the latter being
the Grade I La Brea Stakes on a wet/fast Santa Anita track on Dec. 26,
with Rafael Bejarano aboard the daughter of Giant’s Causeway for the
first time.
The perennial Southern California riding leader is optimistic
that the chestnut filly owned by Gary and Mary West and trained by Bob
Baffert can successfully negotiate the mile and one sixteenth of
Sunday’s Grade II La Canada Stakes.
“It looks like there’s enough speed in the race to be ideal for
my filly,” Bejarano said. “She loves to come from behind, but we’ll have
to see what happens. She has a pretty good chance, but she has to beat
Lady of Fifty.”
Lady of Fifty, a gray After Market filly trained and owned in
part by Jerry Hollendorfer, is seeking her third straight stakes win in
the La Canada, having won the Palm Springs Handicap at Santa Anita last
Nov. 1 and the Grade II Bayakoa Handicap at Hollywood Park on Dec. 8 in
her last two starts. “Hopefully,” Bejarano, said, “we’ll have a good
trip and get the job done.”
The La Canada field: Open Water, Corey Nakatani, 10-1; Lady of
Fifty, Martin Garcia, 6-5; Book Review, Rafael Bejarano, 7-5; Willa B
Awesome, Martin Pedroza, 8-1; Ubelongtomemissy, Joe Talamo, 15-1; and
More Chocolate, Garrett Gomez, 9-2.