A double stakes winner over Cushion Track, Killer Graces
returns to Hollywood Park Sunday in the $100,000 Sharp Cat Stakes.
An ungraded race for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles, the
Sharp Cat is the seventh of nine races. Post time Sunday is 12:30 p.m.
Owned by a partnership that includes Daniel Borislow and
Gillian Campbell and trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Killer Graces won the
Cinderella and Landaluce in succession during the Spring/Summer meet. Those
victories came immediately after she was purchased privately by her current
connections.
A daughter of Congaree and the Old Trieste mare
Heatherdoesntbluff, Killer Graces has failed to win in three subsequent starts,
most recently finishing second as the even-money favorite in the Soviet Problem
Stakes Oct. 9 at Fresno.
Bred in Kentucky by Brian Kahn, Killer Graces has won two of
six and earned $133,630.
Third in the Grade I Oak Leaf – defeated by one length by
Weemissfrankie – Charm the Maker will be seeking her second victory in three
starts for owner-breeder Debbie McAnally and her husband, Hall of Fame trainer
Ron McAnally.
A daughter of Empire Maker and the Giant’s Causeway mare
Charm the Giant, Charm the Maker won a maiden race by 4 ¼ lengths at Del Mar
prior to her initial two-turn attempt in the Oak Leaf. She has earned $67,800.
Another Hall of Fame trainer – Bob Baffert - will attempt to
join David Hofmans as the only conditioner with two wins in the Sharp Cat when
he saddles Lady Pecan.
A Concerto filly out of the Kris S. mare Pecan Park,
Lady Pecan was a distant fourth in the Anoakia Stakes Oct. 22 at Santa Anita in
her first race in California
for owner Kaleem Shah and Baffert. Shah and Baffert combined to win the Sharp
Cat a year ago with May Day Rose.
A Florida bred, Lady Pecan has one win in four outings and a
bankroll of $28,906.
Hofmans won the first two renewals of the Sharp Cat –
Balance (2005) and Runway Rosie (2006).
Oblivion will make her first start in Southern California
after consecutive victories for trainer Steve Sherman at Golden Gate Fields.
Owned by breeder Desperado Stables Inc. and now in the barn of Carla Gaines,
the Johar filly out of the Mud
Route mare March to the Sea has started three
times, banking $30,830.
Sixth of eight in the Oak Leaf, Regal Betty will be making
her first appearance at Hollywood Park for owner Michael Talla and trainer John
Sadler. The daughter of Congrats and the Sultry Song mare Singsingasong has one
win in three races and earnings of $38,150.
Supplemented to the Sharp Cat for $2,000, Willa B Awesome is
the most experienced member of the field. She has started seven times, winning
twice and banking $141,896. Her lone stakes victory came in the restricted
Barretts Debutante Sept. 17 at Fairplex
Park.
A California bred daughter of Awesome Gambler and the
Nineeleven mare Cause I’m Tricky, Willa B Awesome is trained by Walther Solis
for a partnership that includes Phil Daniels and Patsy London.
From inside out, the field for the Sharp Cat Stakes: Lady
Pecan, Martin Garcia rides, 115 pounds; Killer Graces, Joe Talamo, 121; Regal
Betty, Rafael Bejarano, 117; Willa B Awesome, Martin Pedroza, 119; Oblivion,
Joel Rosario, 119 and Charm the Maker, Garrett Gomez, 117.