Shane's Girlfriend Starts 2017 in Santa Ynez

Shane's Girlfriend showed enough in her debut victory at Santa Anita Park Oct. 28 to be very encouraged about her prospects.

The Florida-bred Adios Charlie   filly sped to a 5 3/4-length victory in her six-furlong debut, but trainer Doug O'Neill was as surprised as any with what she did next.

Shane's Girlfriend shipped east to Louisiana for the Delta Downs Princess Stakes (G3) and absolutely dominated nine other fillies to win 13 1/4 lengths.

"Nobody expected that," O'Neill said. "Especially second time out, shipping to Louisiana, first start at two turns—there were a lot of reasons for her to run as good as she ran the first time, but nobody saw that coming."

If it's possible to improve upon that effort, Shane's Girlfriend will try to do so in her next start, the $200,000 Santa Ynez (G2) Jan. 8 at Santa Anita.

O'Neill admitted he hesitated going back to one turn for the seven-furlong Santa Ynez, but was encouraged by her last drill, a 1:12 3/5 move for six furlongs that got the rare Southern California "breezing" tag from the Santa Anita clockers.

"They gave the 'B' word, so she was doing it pretty well in-hand," O'Neill said of the filly owned by  ERJ Racing, W. C. Racing, and Dennis O'Neill. "I wasn't super eager to get her back to one turn, but this is a great place to start a hopefully successful 3-year-old campaign.

"It's a great test. Obviously only one of these nine can win, but I think there are multiple graded winners in this group. These are some strong fillies."

That appears to be an accurate assessment.

On accomplishments to date, Speedway Stable's Noted and Quoted stands head-and-shoulders above the rest of the field. The Bob Baffert-trained filly by The Factor   is one of two graded winners in the field, along with Shane's Girlfriend, and is the lone grade 1 victress. She won the Chandelier (G1) Oct. 1 at Santa Anita, then set the pace in the 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and tired to finish seventh.

ANGST: Noted and Quoted Swings in Chandelier

The field is also littered with impressive, highly regarded maiden winners.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer brings a pair of standout fillies who missed in their first starts but came back to dominate in their second. Don Alberto Stable's Unique Bella ran second in her debut in June at Santa Anita, then led at every call in her second start Nov. 26 at Del Mar, where she won a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight event by 10 1/4 lengths. Tommy Town Thoroughbreds' It Tiz Well followed her stablemate's blowout effort with her own Dec. 18 at Los Alamitos Race Course, where she won a six-furlong race by 10 lengths.

Debut winners Princess Karen and Resilient Humor, the first foal out of grade I winner Sassy Image, are also entered in the Santa Ynez, along with a pair exiting the Dec. 10 Starlet (G1)—Sandy's Surprise (sixth) and Go On Mary (ninth), who are also trained by O'Neill.

BALAN: Resilient Humor Debut Winner for Sassy Image

Maiden victress Carrie, who has struggled mightily in three starts against winners, completes the field.