Bellafina Back for a Home Game in Desert Stormer

A return to a familiar setting could return Bellafina to peak form in the $100,000 Desert Stormer Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park on May 17.

A winner of four races with two seconds from six starts at Santa Anita, including her most recent victory in the 2019 Santa Anita Oaks (G1), the 4-year-old daughter of Quality Road  looks to bounce back after a distant fourth-place finish in the Carousel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on April 25. Away slowly from an inside post and steadied in traffic early, she moved from sixth to third to reach contention, only to weaken down the stretch.

The loss was her fourth in as many tries outside Southern California.

On Sunday, Bellafina will be reunited with Flavien Prat, who has been aboard for 12 of her 14 starts and all six of her victories.

"I think it's just a race you have to draw a line through," trainer Simon Callaghan said of the Carousel. "Nothing really went right, but she's come back and we know she loves Santa Anita. Flavien breezed her and said she felt as good as ever."

An earner of $1,452,975, Bellafina is owned by Kaleem Shah, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith. Magnier, Tabor, and Smith, principals at Coolmore Stud, became partners with Shah after her runner-up finish in last fall's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), a race in which she was beaten three-quarters of a length by champion Covfefe.

Following Bellafina at 6-5 on the morning line are Bob Baffert trainees Mother Mother and Fighting Mad at 5-2 and 4-1, respectively. Both are stakes winners, the former winning the Rags to Riches Stakes at Churchill Downs and Kalookan Queen Stakes at Santa Anita, and the latter taking the Torrey Pines Stakes (G3) by eight lengths last summer at Del Mar.

Fighting Mad has not raced since the Aug. 17 Torrey Pines. Mother Mother has stayed more active, running second behind Hard Not to Love in the Feb. 15 Santa Monica Stakes (G2) in her most recent start.

Hall of Famer Mike Smith will be aboard Mother Mother, a 4-year-old daughter of Pioneerof the Nile owned by Gainesway Stable, Old Bones Racing Stable, Barry Hall, Barry Lipman, and Mark Mathiesen.

Drayden Van Dyke will have the mount on the rail-starting Fighting Mad, a homebred 4-year-old by New Year's Day owned by Gary and Mary West.

The graded-placed First Star and longshots Amuse, Artistic Diva, Tomlin, and Hang a Star complete the field for the six-furlong dirt race.

Entries: Desert Stormer S. (G3)

Santa Anita Park, Sunday, May 17, 2020, Race 8

• Grade III
• 6f
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 4:08 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Fighting Mad (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	126	Bob Baffert	4/1
2	2First Star (FL)	Jose Valdivia, Jr.	122	Ronald W. Ellis	6/1
3	3Mother Mother (KY)	Mike E. Smith	124	Bob Baffert	5/2
4	4Amuse (KY)	Jorge I. Velez	122	Richard E. Mandella	20/1
5	5Bellafina (KY)	Flavien Prat	126	Simon Callaghan	6/5
6	6Artistic Diva (IL)	Victor Espinoza	124	John W. Sadler	15/1
7	7Tomlin (KY)	Abel Cedillo	124	Steven Specht	12/1
8	8Hang a Star (KY)	UMBERTO RISPOLI	122	Ian Kruljac	20/1