One-Eyed Hard Not to Love Returns in La Canada

As a grade 1-winning half sister to 2018 Canadian Horse of the Year Wonder Gadot, Hard Not to Love's value as a broodmare is considerable. Before she begins that second career, however, she has some unfinished business on the racetrack for a plotted 5-year-old campaign, beginning Jan. 9 in the $200,000 La Canada Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park.

The 1 1/16-mile race, in which she faces fellow graded stakes winners Proud Emma, Fighting Mad, and Sanenus, is the first start of what her connections hope will be a successful run this year. The Hard Spun  mare's career has already been fruitful, particularly at Santa Anita, where she won the La Brea Stakes (G1) in December 2019 before winning the Santa Monica Stakes (G2) last February.

Trainer John Shirreffs, a three-time winner of the La Canada, trains her for owners Mercedes Stables, West Point Thoroughbreds, Scott Dilworth, David and Dorothy Ingordo, and Steve Mooney.

"We thought long and hard about going to the Breeders' Cup last fall," said West Point Thoroughbreds president and CEO Terry Finley. "Ultimately, we left that decision to John Shirreffs, and he thought it would be best to set us up for 2021 to not come to the Breeders' Cup. Everybody fell in line. We all coalesced around John and his decision making."

After her victories last winter, the Canadian-bred Hard Not to Love went 0-for-4, though she managed three runner-up finishes in graded company, including her last start in the Zenyatta Stakes (G2) in late September.

At times nerves got the better of the one-eyed filly, who lost her left eye as a yearling. Before the Santa Maria Stakes (G2) in May, she delayed the start by more than five minutes, which frustrated some opposing connections.

"We all have anxiety, right? It's kind of the world we live in. A lot of us can relate to her," Finley said.

Ricky Gonzalez will be aboard Hard Not to Love for the first time after Hall of Famer Mike Smith was aboard for a seven-race stretch. She seeks her first victory around two turns.

Also returning from the Zenyatta is Gary and Mary West's homebred Fighting Mad, who developed into one of the West Coast's top distaffers last year with victories in the Santa Maria and Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1). She was freshened by trainer Bob Baffert after a loss at 2-5 odds in the Zenyatta, in which she controlled the pace but came up empty in the stretch, fading to third, 1 1/2 lengths behind victorious Harvest Moon and three-quarters of a length behind Hard Not to Love.

The fast-working New Year's Day mare is one of two Baffert entrants, the other being Baoma Corp.'s Message, second to Proud Emma in the Bayakoa Stakes (G3) at Los Alamitos Race Course Dec. 6. Fighting Mad carries high weight of 124 pounds,  spotting her six rivals two to four pounds apiece. 

Baffert and Proud Emma's trainer, Peter Miller, have combined to win all four of the graded stakes races contested at Santa Anita in 2021, all of which have been run without the diuretic Lasix under new medication rules adopted in California. All seven of Saturday's competitors raced with the medication in 2020.

Miss Stormy D and Never Be Enough round out the field.

Entries: La Canada S. (G3)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, January 09, 2021, Race 8

• Grade III
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 3:35 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Proud Emma (KY)	Juan J. Hernandez	122	Peter Miller	6/1
2	2Hard Not to Love (ON)	Ricardo Gonzalez	120	John A. Shirreffs	2/1
3	3Fighting Mad (KY)	Abel Cedillo	124	Bob Baffert	9/5
4	4Message (KY)	Flavien Prat	120	Bob Baffert	6/1
5	5Sanenus (CHI)	UMBERTO RISPOLI	120	Michael W. McCarthy	6/1
6	6Miss Stormy D (KY)	Mike E. Smith	120	Carla Gaines	8/1
7	7Never Be Enough (GB)	Tiago Josue Pereira	120	Manuel Badilla	12/1