Taris Makes Return in Rancho Bernardo

In her first race in more than seven months, grade II winner Taris will encounter a familiar foe in the $100,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap (gr. III) Aug. 16 at Del Mar.



The Flatter   filly will make her 4-year-old debut in the Rancho Bernardo, after winning her first graded stakes last October in the Lexus Raven Run (gr. II) at Keeneland, where she set the pace and ran away to a nine-length victory for trainer Todd Beattie.



After that race Taris sold for $2.35 million to owners assocaiated with Coolmore at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale, with Southern California-based trainer Simon Callaghan signing the ticket. In her first start for her new connections, she set the pace again but got caught late by fellow Rancho Bernardo runner Sam's Sister in the La Brea Stakes (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park in December.

She hasn't raced since because of a non-displaced condylar fracture in her right front ankle.



"It was fractured in the race and it was a clean fracture, so we put a screw in, gave her time off, and she's healed well," Callaghan said. "When she was cooling out, we could tell something was wrong. That was certainly the reason she didn't win. You could see, when she switches leads at the sixteenth pole, she took a bad step."



Owned by Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and John Magnier, Taris may be ready if her second-to-last workout at Del Mar is any indication. She ran a bullet five furlongs in :59 2/5 Aug. 2, the best of 65 moves at the distance that morning, and gets Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens in the irons for the first time in the 6 1/2-furlong Rancho Bernardo.



"We've been really excited the way she's been training," Callaghan said. "She's ready to run, but we haven't turned the screws just yet. Obviously this is her first race back, but the goal is Breeders' Cup."



Sam's Sister added to her top-level victory in the La Brea with a win in the Santa Monica (gr. II) at Santa Anita in January, but has been sliding since. A fourth and fifth, respectively, against tough fields in the Barbara Fritchie Handicap (gr. II) and Madison Stakes (gr. I) are nothing to be ashamed of, but she followed those races with a third in the Desert Stormer Stakes June 14, where she finished a neck behind runner-up and Rancho Bernardo runner Wasted at Midnight.



Graded stakes-placed Oscar Party and Uzziel, along with allowance winner Baruta and Chilean stakes winner Tesalina, complete the field.