Grace Adler Leads Baffert Trio in Starlet

Three winners from Del Mar's Sept. 5 card make up half of the field for the 1 1/16-mile Starlet Stakes (G1) at Los Alamitos Race Course Dec. 4. Grace Adler  scored in that day's biggest event for 2-year-old fillies, the TVG Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1), while Benedict Canyon  and Cairo Memories  were maiden winners.

Now they all meet in a top-tier stakes, with Benedict Canyon facing such company for the first time, and Cairo Memories racing in her first grade 1 on dirt.

Bob Baffert, who has won the past four Starlets and seven overall, trains Grace Adler and Benedict Canyon, as well as Eda , the Debutante favorite who ended up fifth after dueling for the lead early amid quick fractions. Eda was responsible for the half-mile fraction of :44.37 in the seven-furlong Debutante.

"I wasn't happy with her position early because they were going way too fast up front," Baffert said after the Debutante.

While Baffert added that the Debutante set up for Grace Adler to come from behind, it was an impressive performance no matter the tactics. Grace Adler won the Debutante by 11 1/4 lengths.

Michael Lund Petersen bought Grace Adler for $700,000 from breeder Blue Heaven Farm's consignment to the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase. He now co-owns her with Willow Grace Farm. The daughter of Curlin   broke her maiden in her racing debut and most recently finished fifth in the Chandelier Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park in her first route.

Flavien Prat has been aboard Grace Adler in all three of her outings, and he returns for the Starlet from post 2. He had also ridden Eda recently.

Charlie and Susan Chu's Baoma Corporation owns Eda, a $550,000 2-year-old purchase by bloodstock agent Donato Lanni from the Eddie Woods consignment at this year's Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. After two seconds and then her Debutante fifth, the daughter of Munnings   has won back-to-back stakes, the Oct. 24 Anoakia Stakes at Santa Anita and the Nov. 13 Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar.

Prat rode her in both of those victories, and Juan Hernandez takes over in the Starlet, drawing the outside. Eda appears to be the controlling speed of the Starlet.

Four races before the Debutante on the Sept. 5 card, Benedict Canyon broke her maiden by a nose in her second start. In her debut, she ran third behind Ain't Easy , who went on to win the Chandelier. Benedict Canyon has since finished third in the Anoakia for owner Little Red Feather Racing. Benedict Canyon is a daughter of Midnight Lute  , the champion sprinter and two-time Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) winner also trained by Baffert.

"We always had high hopes for her, and obviously in her debut she lost to a very good horse in Ain't Easy," said Billy Koch, founder and a managing partner of Little Red Feather. "We really wanted to stretch her out, and Bob has always said he thinks she's a two-turn horse. We just haven't had the opportunity."

Benedict Canyon is named for one of the Los Angeles streets that the Little Red Feather principals grew up on. Koch said that Baffert has nicknamed her Eggs, as in Eggs Benedict. The filly has kept classy company in the Baffert barn. Koch said that she has worked recently with undefeated Triple Tap , a 3-year-old half brother to American Pharoah  , by Tapit  , and then Newgrange , who broke his maiden in his debut at Del Mar Nov. 28.

Baffert has named Edwin Maldonado on Benedict Canyon, who drew post 3.

The Starlet offers qualifying points on Churchill Downs' Road to the Kentucky Oaks on a 10-4-2-1 scale to its top four finishers, though series' regulations state that any horse trained by an individual suspended from Churchill Downs does not amass points.

Acting as a property owner, Churchill Downs Inc. suspended Baffert through the 2023 spring meet at Churchill Downs after his runner, Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit , tested positive for betamethasone after winning the May 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) there. A stewards' hearing related to the Derby has not yet taken place while follow-up testing is completed.

Cairo Memories, trained by Bob Hess Jr. for owners David A. Bernsen and Schroeder Farms, made her racing debut on that Debutante card. Sent off at 16-1 odds in a one-mile maiden turf race, she scored by 4 1/2 lengths. Cairo Memories came back at Santa Anita to win the Oct. 3 Surfer Girl Stakes and then had a rough trip in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) at Del Mar, finishing ninth.

The Starlet will be Cairo Memories' first dirt race. Kent Desormeaux has ridden her exclusively and will be back aboard from post 4.

Tonito's , second in the Desi Arnaz behind Eda, drew the rail and will have the services of Mario Gutierrez. Doug O'Neill trains Tonito's for owners Anderson Farms, ERJ Racing, Reddam Racing, John Fielding, and Ryan Lloyd.

Desert Dawn  is the only Starlet entrant not bred in Kentucky. Elena Crim bred the filly in Arizona in the name of H & E Ranch, which also owns her. Phil D'Amato trains Desert Dawn, who in four starts broke her maiden, ran third in the Chandelier, and finished sixth in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). Mike Smith will ride from post 5.

Entries: Starlet S. (G1)

LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, Saturday, December 04, 2021, Race 8

• Grade I
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 2 yo Fillies
• 3:58 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Tonito's (KY)	Mario Gutierrez	120	Doug F. O'Neill	8/1
2	2Grace Adler (KY)	Flavien Prat	120	Bob Baffert	9/5
3	3Benedict Canyon (KY)	Edwin A. Maldonado	120	Bob Baffert	12/1
4	4Cairo Memories (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	120	Robert B. Hess, Jr.	3/1
5	5Desert Dawn (AZ)	Mike E. Smith	120	Philip D'Amato	6/1
6	6Eda (KY)	Juan J. Hernandez	120	Bob Baffert	2/1