Santa Ysabel

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

Only six sophomore fillies were entered in Sunday’s $100,000 Santa Ysabel S.
(G3) at Santa Anita, and ZILVA (Successful Appeal) should find this the perfect
spot to earn her first stakes score. The Graham Motion trainee broke her maiden
while going the Santa Ysabel distance of 1 1/16 miles on the turf at Saratoga in
September, then was thrown to the wolves when entered in the Alcibiades S. (G1)
over Keeneland’s Polytrack. The bay miss gave a good accounting of herself in
that 8 1/2-furlong test, splitting horses to get up for fourth, just three
lengths back of the winner. Zilva was entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
Fillies (G1) off that effort and once again showed some class while not making
it into the top three. Rafael Bejarano will be taking over riding duties, and
the pair could start off the New Year in the winner’s circle.

WHISPERING HUSH (El Corredor) will return to the Pro-Ride on Sunday after
capturing her maiden and running fifth in the Miesque S. (G3) on the turf in her
past two. The chestnut filly began her career on Del Mar’s Polytrack, finishing
third in her debut and second in the Generous Portion S., before moving over to
the Oak Tree meet and rallying for third in the California Cup Juvenile Fillies. Trainer Eric Kruljac switched Whispering Hush to the turf, and the sophomore
miss finally broke her maiden while going a mile. She’ll get a jockey switch to
Mike Smith for this one and could earn her second victory here.

EVENING JEWEL (Northern Afleet) doesn’t look as fast as our top two picks,
but the James Cassidy runner did capture the filly division of the California
Breeders’ Champion S. last out. The bay has yet to finish worse than
second from three tries on the Pro-Ride, so we’ll include her in the exotics.

CRISP (El Corredor) captured her maiden while going Sunday’s distance at
Hollywood Park, but it wasn’t an easy victory. The dark bay lass bore out badly
but still managed to get up for the three-quarters of a length score, earning a nice
93 BRIS Late Pace rating. She garnered a 102 Late Pace for her third in her
initial start prior to that, and could make a late run for the top three under
Joel Rosario.

ELLAFITZ (Tiznow) brings the hot combo of Garrett Gomez and Bob Baffert into
the Santa Ysabel and could keep her record perfect while making just her second
career start here. The bay miss began her career under the tutelage of James
Smith at Woodbine, taking her maiden debut by one length, and worked a sharp
five furlongs on Wednesday to prepare for this one. She could surprise at a nice
price.

HARISSA (Afleet Alex) just broke her maiden at Hollywood on November 19, but
we don’t think she’ll be able to keep up with these. We’ll take a stand against.