Explora Opens 3-Year-Old Season in Santa Ynez

Explora , runner-up as the favorite in the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Del Mar, kicks off her 3-year-old campaign Jan. 10 in the $100,000 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita Park, a race that was postponed one week from Jan. 3 due to rain in Southern California.

The 7-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies, which distributes qualifying points on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale toward the May 1 Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs, drew a field of five, including La Wally , eighth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. The Mark Glatt-trained La Wally, who adds blinkers, was also runner-up to Explora in the Oak Leaf Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita a start before the Breeders' Cup.

Glatt said his filly didn't fire in the Breeders' Cup, and questioned whether a tactic to have her more involved early compromised her finish.

"I think the cutback is OK for her," Glatt said of the Constitution   filly, who broke her maiden going 5 furlongs and was later third in the 7-furlong Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) in another sprint try.

La Wally, who Umberto Rispoli will ride, breaks from post 2 in the short field.

Three of the five Santa Ynez participants are trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. Explora was originally joined in entries by graded stakes winner Himika , and debut maiden winner Toaster . However, when the race was redrawn after its cancellation, Baffert replaced Toaster with Del Mar Debutante winner Bottle of Rouge , who was last seen finishing sixth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

The field is completed by John Sadler-trained Revera , who Sadler calls a "very hard trier."

Explora, a dark bay or brown daughter of Blame   owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, was recently announced as a finalist for Eclipse champion 2-year-old filly. Besides her runner-up finish in the Breeders' Cup and her win in the Oak Leaf, she also won a maiden race and was runner-up in the Del Mar Debutante last year. She currently has 25 qualifying points toward the Oaks, placing her in second on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard behind Juvenile Fillies winner Super Corredora  with 30.