Dream Tree Returns to Racing in La Brea

An epiglottic entrapment may have knocked Phoenix Thoroughbreds' Dream Tree out of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), but after surgery to repair the issue and some time off, she'll be back to try for her first grade 1 win of 2018 in the $300,000 La Brea Stakes Dec. 26 at Santa Anita Park.

Undefeated in five starts, including two wins over multiple grade 1 winner Midnight Bisou, Dream Tree closed her 2-year-old season with her first top-level score in the Starlet Stakes (G1) at Los Alamitos Race Course.

She continued to roll with a clear score in the Feb. 4 Las Virgenes Stakes (G2), then returned from a seven-month layoff to romp in the Sept. 2 Prioress Stakes (G2) on the road at Saratoga Race Course. The Bob Baffert-trained Uncle Mo  filly has won her three graded stakes by an average of 3 3/4 lengths.

BALAN: Dream Tree Shrugs Off Layoff to Win Prioress

"I missed some time with her and was going to run her in the Breeders' Cup, but she had a throat issue—an entrapped epiglottis," Baffert told the Santa Anita publicity department. "But she's doing well now. ... I haven't had too many Uncle Mos, but they're all racehorses, like Indian Charlies, although it's hard to stay undefeated in California."

The only other graded winner in the field is Coolmore's Happy Like a Fool, who shipped in from Kentucky for trainer Wesley Ward. The May 18 Adena Springs Miss Preakness Stakes (G3) winner finished sixth in the Filly & Mare Sprint, then won an allowance prep for the La Jolla by three-quarters of a length Nov. 25 at Churchill Downs.

Also invading from the East is GMB Racing's Cathedral Reader, who enters the seven-furlong La Brea off back-to-back allowance wins in Kentucky, and Loooch Racing Stables' grade 2-placed Heavenhasmynikki, who has won three of her last four starts against Ohio-bred competition, including a five-length score last time out in the Nov. 10 First Lady Stakes at Mahoning Valley Race Course.

Also a state-bred stakes winner, Spiced Perfection is one of two California-breds in the field (along with allowance winner Hot Autumn) and enters the La Brea off an impressive score in the Nov. 11 Betty Grable Stakes at Del Mar.

BALAN: Spiced Perfection Scores Betty Grable at Del Mar

Rounding out the field is Baffert's second entry, Godolphin homebred Emboldened, who will return to racing off a seven-month layoff after her 2 1/4-length win in the Angels Flight Stakes at Santa Anita; and Ike and Dawn Thrash's Kelly's Humor, a grade 1-placed Midnight Lute  filly who will make her second local start for trainer Peter Miller after she finished fifth in a Nov. 16 allowance at Del Mar.

Entries: La Brea S. (G1)

Santa Anita Park, Wednesday, December 26, 2018, Race 6

• Grade I
• 7f
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 2:15 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Happy Like a Fool (KY)	John R. Velazquez	122	Wesley A. Ward	4/1
2	2Mo See Cal (CA)	Mike E. Smith	120	Peter Miller	12/1
3	3Kelly's Humor (KY)	Joel Rosario	120	Peter Miller	8/1
4	4Emboldened (KY)	Joseph Talamo	120	Bob Baffert	5/1
5	5Dream Tree (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	122	Bob Baffert	8/5
6	6Heavenhasmynikki (OH)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	120	Anthony T. Quartarolo	15/1
7	7Hot Autumn (CA)	Tyler Baze	120	Ian Kruljac	12/1
8	8Cathedral Reader (KY)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	120	Dallas Stewart	12/1
9	9Spiced Perfection (CA)	Flavien Prat	120	Brian J. Koriner	5/1