Weemissfrankie will try for a third Grade I win in the $402,000 – estimated
- Hollywood Starlet Saturday at Hollywood Park.
Five other 2-year-old fillies are scheduled to compete in
the Starlet, which will be run at 1 1/16 miles over Cushion Track. It is the
ninth of 10 races. Post time is 12:30 p.m.
Owned by a partnership that includes Sharon Alesia, Bran Jam
Stables, Ciaglia Racing LLC, Nick Cosato and Rob Dyrdek and trained by Peter
Eurton, Weemissfrankie has won three of four and earned $535,800.
The Grade I successes for the daughter of Sunriver and the
Meadowlake mare Starinthemeadow came back-to-back. Some six weeks after a debut
victory at Del
Mar, Weemissfrankie won the Del Mar Debutante Sept. 3, then followed with a
stretch out score in the Oak Leaf – at the Starlet distance – Oct. 2 at Santa
Anita.
The lone defeat for the New York bred came when she was
third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs. She
finished nine lengths behind winner My Miss Aurelia.
If Weemissfrankie wins Saturday, she will become the first
filly since Excellent Meeting in 1998 to sweep the Debutante, Oak Leaf and
Starlet.
Charm the Maker will attempt to become the first winner of
the Sharp Cat Stakes to repeat in the Starlet.
Owned and bred by Debbie McAnally and her Hall of Fame
trainer husband Ron, the Empire Maker filly out of the Giant’s Causeway mare
Charm the Giant has won two of three and banked $127,900. She won the Sharp Cat
by 1 ¼ lengths as the 2-5 favorite in her second start at 8 ½ furlongs. She
finished third – defeated by one length – in the Oak Leaf.
Self Preservation, who finished 1 ¼ lengths back of
Weemissfrankie last month in Kentucky when fourth in the Juvenile Fillies,
returns to California in search of her first victory in the United States.
Trained by Ben Cecil for owner J. Paul Reddam, the Lion
Heart filly out of the Dahar mare Saintly Speaking is 0-for-3 since arriving
from Ireland.
Her best finish was a second at nearly 25-1 in the Del Mar Debutante. Overall,
she has one win in five attempts and earnings of $188,747.
Second behind Charm the Maker in the Sharp Cat, Killer
Graces will be hoping to end a four race losing streak in the Starlet. The daughter
of Congaree and the Old Trieste mare Heatherdoesntbluff hasn’t won since taking
the Landaluce July 16.
That victory was her second in a row over Cushion Track. In
her first start after being purchased by Dan Borislow, Gillian Campbell, Steve
Melen and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, Killer Graces rallied to take the
Cinderella Stakes June 11. She has not been worse than second in four races at Hollywood Park.
A two-time winner of the Starlet, Hall of Fame trainer Bob
Baffert will be represented by Lady Pecan.
A daughter of Concerto and the Kris S. mare Pecan Park
owned by Kaleem Shah, Lady Pecan has one win in five outings and earnings of
$34,906. Her victory came against $62,500 maidens at Woodbine Aug. 10. She was
purchased privately by Baffert for Shah after that race.
She is winless in three races for her current connections.
Most recently, Lady Pecan was fourth in the Sharp Cat.
Excellent Meeting (1998) and Habibti (2001) provided Baffert
with his two Starlet wins.
Mi Vida is a four start maiden who has banked $7,200 for
owner-breeder Southern Equine Stable LLC and trainer Eric Guillot.
From inside out, the field for the 31st Hollywood
Starlet: Weemissfrankie, Rafael Bejarano rides, 120 pounds; Charm the Maker,
Garrett Gomez, 120; Lady Pecan, Martin Garcia, 120; Killer Graces, Joe Talamo,
120; Mi Vida, David Flores, 120 and Self Preservation, Joel Rosario, 120.