Hard Not to Like Seeks Fourth Grade I

DATTT Stable's Hard Not to Like has been quite the traveler in her four-year career, racing at eight different racetracks and winning at five, and the gray mare will look to add another to her list in the $300,000 Matriarch Stakes (gr. IT) Nov. 29 at Del Mar.



The 6-year-old daughter of Hard Spun   has won grade I turf events at three different tracks—the Diana Stakes at Saratoga Race Course two starts back July 25, the Gamely Stakes May 26 at Santa Anita Park, and the 2014 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland. She must rebound from an eighth in the Sept. 26 Rodeo Drive Stakes (gr. IT) last out, and was scratched from the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT) with a cough.



NOVAK: Hard Not to Like Wins Record Diana Thriller



Although she's the only grade I-winning entrant in her first race in San Diego County, Hard Not To Like will take on a host of challengers familiar and formidable on the Del Mar grass.



Fellow Matriarch runners with wins over the Del Mar turf include She's Not Here (Yellow Ribbon Handicap, gr. IIT), Prize Exhibit (San Clemente Handicap, gr. IIT), Chati's On Top (Solana Beach Handicap), Curlin's Fox (Sandy Blue Handicap), Queen of the Sand (2014 Kathryn Crosby Stakes), Gender Agenda (allowance races), and Baruta (allowance races).



Baruta also has a win over the Santa Anita downhill turf course last time out in the Senator Ken Maddy (gr. IIIT). After the Maddy, Rio Dios Irmaos racing manager Alberto Figueiredo said Baruta would be retired to breeding duties in Kentucky, but she finds herself racing again.



BALAN: Baruta Goes Out a Ken Maddy Winner



Group/graded winners Recepta, Stellar Path, Filimbi, and Olorda—all shipping from the east—could also be major players if they take to the Southern California turf.