Unbeaten Enola Gray Steps Up in Torrey Pines

Nick Alexander's homebred Enola Gray will take an undefeated record into the $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes (gr. III) Aug. 28 at Del Mar, but the lightly raced Grazen filly will be up against the toughest field she's ever faced.

The Phil D'Amato-trained 3-year-old filly has won her three starts by a combined 26 1/4 lengths, but all three races have been against California-bred company. She broke her maiden at 6 1/2 furlongs by a staggering 16 1/4 lengths in her April debut at Santa Anita Park, sped to a two-turn win in the Melair Stakes in May, and returned to sprinting for a 7 3/4-length victory in the July 22 Fleet Treat Stakes.

BALAN: Enola Gray Still Perfect After Del Mar Run

For D'Amato, the reason Enola Gray hadn't waded into graded stakes waters is twofold. Very lucrative and relatively easy California-bred stakes are hard to skip, and D'Amato wanted to see a little bit more from his filly.

"It was a bit of both," the trainer said. "It's hard to pass up a good chunk of change when your filly is a Cal-bred and I thought she learned her lessons in those races."

D'Amato took his time with the filly after she had shin issues as a juvenile, and the patient handling not only helped her physically, but also mentally.

"She had some typical baby issues and shins at 2, so we backed off her," the trainer said. "We took our time. She was a lighter-framed filly and the time off got those shins good and helped her mature.

"She was always a fast filly, so we rarely breezed her in company because she was so fast. She fell a little under the radar because I trained her at Los Alamitos (Race Course) for her debut."

D'Amato said if Enola Gray wins or runs well in the Torrey Pines, she'll target the Oct. 22 Lexus Raven Run Stakes (gr. II) at Keeneland and likely skip the Breeders' Cup this year.

Enola Gray is tagged as the 4-5 favorite in the field of eight with a rail draw, but the main challenger to hand the gray filly her first loss is D'Amato stablemate Bellamentary. The Bellamy Road   filly drew post 7 and ran second—albeit  6 1/2 lengths back—to Songbird last time out in the Summertime Oaks (gr. II) June 18 at Santa Anita.

Fellow stakes winners Uptown Twirl, Dreamarcher, and Belvoir Bay also present intriguing longshot options.

Hronis Racing's Uptown Twirl, a Twirling Candy   filly trained by John Sadler, is on a two-stakes win streak. She broke through for her first stakes win in the Surfside at Los Alamitos in April, then shipped north to win the Pleasanton Oaks June 18.

Dreamarcher, an Archarcharch   filly trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, also won her last start in Northern California, but did it on the Santa Rosa turf course in the Wine Country Stakes July 30.

Team Valor International and Gary Barber's Belvoir Bay is another grass stakes winner—the Equiano filly trained by Peter Miller won the Blue Norther Stakes at Santa Anita Dec. 27—and should fire in her second start off a nearly seven-month layoff following a 10th-place run in the San Clemente Handicap (gr. IIT) July 23.

Graded stakes-placed maiden winners Kay Kay and She's a Warrior, along with allowance winner Nine Point Nine, round out the field.