Donna Veloce, Bast Headline Short Starlet Lineup

Competing in the 36th Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Santa Anita Park Nov. 1, Donna Veloce nearly became the first filly to win the race after just one start. In front in midstretch, she finished second to British Idiom, beaten a neck.

The defeat likely cost her a championship. British Idiom, unbeaten in three starts and a dual grade 1 winner, is widely expected to be crowned the Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old filly of 2019.

On Dec. 7 in the $300,000 Starlet Stakes (G1) at Los Alamitos Race Course, Donna Veloce goes for a consolation prize in the final North American grade 1 race for 2-year-olds this year. Matched against just four rivals, she looms the favorite in a 1 1/16-mile race in which she and Bast—third in the Juvenile Fillies, 1 3/4 lengths behind Donna Veloce—will draw most of the wagering dollars.

Bast, winner of the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) and Chandelier Stakes (G1), is trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, a five-time winner of the Starlet, all since 1998. He has won the race three times over the past six runnings with Streaming (2013), Dream Tree (2017) and Chasing Yesterday (2018) following earlier success with Excellent Meeting (1998) and Habibti (2001).

Another filly, Gingham, also represents Baffert in the Starlet, stepping into stakes after breaking her maiden in her fourth start.

Donna Veloce's trainer, Simon Callaghan, is also a Starlet winner. He trained Abel Tasman to victory in 2016 before she was transferred to Baffert the following spring. Abel Tasman won the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) on her way to a championship at 3.

It is because of the achievements of Abel Tasman and other Starlet participants that the race remains a grade 1. Its companion race at Los Alamitos Dec. 7, the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), was downgraded from grade 1 status this year.

Both races were moved to Los Alamitos after Hollywood Park was shuttered in late 2013 and have drawn short fields since 2017.

Donna Veloce, which means "fast woman" in Italian, has proven aptly named based on her two starts. Besides her Breeders' Cup effort—in which she stalked the pace after breaking a step slowly before advancing and falling short—she was a 9 1/4-length winner of her debut Sept. 28 at Santa Anita in which she raced 6 1/2 furlongs in a sharp 1:16.22.

Reflecting on the Juvenile Fillies runner-up finish, Callaghan said he was pleased by how she performed, given her inexperience.

"She ran a phenomenally good race," he said. "She nearly pulled off something that no horse has been able to do before—you know, coming straight off a maiden to a Breeders' Cup win. So we were very proud of her effort, and although she didn't win, she ran as good a race as you could hope."

Video: Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1)

After initially training at Santa Anita after the Breeders' Cup, Donna Veloce has been breezing at Los Alamitos in recent weeks, along with other barn leaders for Callaghan, including Bellafina, who is being pointed to the La Brea Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Dec. 26.

"We're expanding enough to have two divisions, and we wanted to get a good foothold before all the 2-year-olds start coming in, where we will have a lot of them stationed," Callaghan said.

Flavien Prat will again ride Donna Veloce, whom agent Ben McElroy purchased for owner Haleem Shah for $800,000 this year at The Gulfstream Sale, Fasig-Tipton's Florida sale of 2-year-olds in training. Out of the Montjeu mare Coin Broker, she was bred in Kentucky by the Coin Broker Syndicate.

Donna Veloce and Bast are daughters of Uncle Mo , the 2010 Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner who will stand for a 2020 fee of $125,000 at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky.

Drawn in post 3, Donna Veloce starts just outside Bast, which could be a tactical advantage in a race in which the two fillies appear the speediest of a small lineup.

Bast, who has two wins in four starts for owner Baoma Corporation, is the race's leading money earner with $552,200. Though she weakened late in the Juvenile Fillies, her performance left Baffert encouraged after Bast pushed quick splits of :22.71 and :46.02 under John Velazquez in a race timed in a slow 1:47.07 for 1 1/16 miles on a tiring strip.

"I told Johnny to just get her out there and put her in the race, and he did," Baffert said after the Juvenile Fillies. "Unfortunately, we went too fast. But that's horse racing. She's got a big heart. She did not want to quit."

Bred in Kentucky by BlackRidge Stables out of the Arch mare Laffina, Bast was a $500,000 purchase by Baoma from Taylor Made Sales Agency's consignment to The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select sale of yearlings in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Drayden Van Dyke, aboard for her 8 3/4-length victory in the Del Mar Debutante, will return in the irons.

The remaining members of the field are Roadrunner's Honor, fourth in the Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar Nov. 10 after a first-out maiden win at Santa Anita, and K P Dreamin, eighth in the Juvenile Fillies after running third in the Chandelier.

The Starlet is part of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks series, providing qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 scale to the top four finishers.

Entries: Starlet S. (G1)

LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, Saturday, December 07, 2019, Race 7

• Grade I
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 2 yo Fillies
• 3:28 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Roadrunner's Honor (KY)	Geovanni Franco	120	Doug F. O'Neill	15/1
2	2Bast (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	120	Bob Baffert	7/5
3	3Donna Veloce (KY)	Flavien Prat	120	Simon Callaghan	4/5
4	4Gingham (KY)	Abel Cedillo	120	Bob Baffert	6/1
5	5K P Dreamin (FL)	Ruben Fuentes	120	Jeff Mullins	12/1