Mildly Offensive was hardly a secret when she cruised to an easy win in her wet fast Santa Anita debut Feb 19. She covered six furlongs in 1:08-1/5 that day and tries stakes rivals in Sunday's $100,000 Santa Paula Stakes at the Great Race Place.
The Carla Gaines trainee is a WinStar Farm bred filly out of Personal Flag mare It's Personal, and the promising daughter of Sharp Humor figures to stalk the pace from the outside post under Rafael Bejarano. It could be on to bigger and better things with a strong performance on Sunday.
California Nectar is the proven class and speed in the Santa Paula. She dueled through wicked splits and faded badly when last seen in the Las Virgenes (G1). The California-bred daughter of Stormy Atlantic is a terror around one turn and is probably the one to catch under Patrick Valenzuela.
Hout Bay smartly rallied to win her local bow for John Sadler. She would appreciate a contested early pace and should be finishing fast under Joel Rosario.
Dawnie Macho could make things tough on California Nectar. The fleet miss set the pace in all four of her career starts (2 wins) and seemingly needed her downhill return. Sadler conditions her as well.
The six and one-half furlong Santa Paula Stakes goes as the 8th race on March 20 and the field also includes Tiz The Route, Joe Ja, Justenufappeal, and Top Debutante.