Starting the New Year's Party Early at Santa Anita

Most of the stakes action on the final Saturday of 2018 takes place at Stronach Group tracks. Santa Anita Park has top billing with the $300,000 American Oaks (G1T) and the $150,000 Robert J. Frankel (G3T), which are North America's final two graded stakes of the year. Meanwhile, Gulfstream Park and Laurel Park each run six stakes races.

American Oaks (SA, race 8, 3:34 PT): Nine sophomore fillies entered this 10-furlong grass race, but Kodiak West is an early scratch and it remains to be seen whether Amandine (4) will run back scarcely 72 hours after taking the Lady of Shamrock Stakes Dec. 26. That would be a big ask for a filly who has never been beyond one mile, but the British-bred daughter of Shamardal clearly has adapted well in winning both of her United States starts.

Along with other solid local fillies such as Paved (6) and Californiagoldrush (9), the field also contains an interesting mix of runners who've been running in the Northeast and/or Midwest, notably Colonia (2), Princess Warrior (5) and Competitionofideas (8).

The pace situation is uncertain due to a lack of true front-end speed, and such races on turf often unfold slowly and come down to who has the best closing kick. I'm pretty sure French import Colonia fits that bill based on her most recent outing in the Pin Oak Valley View (G3T), in which she was held up off dawdling early fractions and rallied through heavy traffic to get up in time by a half-length over Get Explicit.

A few weeks later, Princess Warrior beat Get Explicit in the Mrs. Revere (G2T) for Kenny McPeek, who sent out Daddys Lil Darling to win last year's American Oaks.

Competitionofideas is making her graded stakes debut for Chad Brown, who could win his third straight Eclipse Award as champion trainer. After a late-summer freshening, the Speightstown  filly was vastly improved winning maiden and preliminary allowance events with blinkers added, and she got rolling too late in an off-the-turf running of the Winter Memories at Aqueduct Racetrack after that.

A - 2, 8

B - 6, 9

C - 4

Robert J. Frankel (SA, race 4, 1:34 PT): The eight older fillies and mares entered are a combined 0 for 13 in 1 1/8-mile turf routes, although the remarkable Escape Clause (2) has won at the trip on dirt while winning 18 of her 26 starts to date.

This is a case where the pace picture is crystal clear: Fahan Mura (4) is going to the front, and it's up to the others to try and reel in the 5-2 morning-line favorite. I am somewhat ambivalent about her: On the one hand, she ran well for third in the John C. Mabee (G2T) in one previous attempt at nine furlongs, when run down by Vasilika, who has won nine of 11 starts this year, and Cambodia, who has won four graded stakes; plus, she ought to relish getting back on the grass at Santa Anita, where she is 5-1-0 from six starts, after cutting the pace in the Matriarch (G1T) for better than six furlongs. On the other hand, she has had a lot of racing (this will be her 11th start of the year, and her 20th in 2017-18), and her fade in the Matriarch suggests she could be tailing off for Vladimir Cerin, who is 0 for 24 in graded stakes the past two seasons.

If Fahan Mura brings her "A" game, that will be good enough, but otherwise this race devolves into a scramble. In addition to backing up with Escape Clause, we'll also cover the Richard Baltas-trained triumvirate of Lucy De (1), Quebec (3) and Gliding By (6). The latter ran third in this race last year behind stablemate Midnight Crossing, who wired the field at nearly 23-1.

A - 4

B - 2

C - 1, 3, 6

Highlights at Laurel include the following stakes:

Thirty Eight Go Go: New York invaders Sower (Linda Rice) and Forever Liesl (Michelle Nevin) figure to vie for favoritism. Sower was a debut winner at Laurel back in April and has since won two stakes at Belmont Park, while Forever Liesl comes off a runner-up finish in the Turnback the Alarm (G3) at the Big A.

Dave's Friend: Altissimo (5-2) has won six of his last seven starts, and takes on Loki (2-1), who has a 7-3-0 record from 10 starts over the track.

Politely: An appetizing single for multi-race plays is Crabcakes (4-5), who looks to improve on an already stellar slate of 7-2-0 from nine starts over the strip.

At Gulfstream, the stakes action begins with the five-furlong Janus, where course record holder Pay Any Prince (7-5) will be favored to notch his fifth consecutive victory; and stretches all the way out to the two-mile H. Allen Jerkens, a marathon where Soglio (9-5) is the one to beat for Mike Maker.

The degree of difficulty is off the charts concerning a late pick four that goes 14x13x14x14, beginning with two full gates of 3-year-olds on turf in the Tropical Park Oaks for fillies and the Tropical Park Derby for males. The middle of the sequence consists of the H. Allen Jerkens and the Via Borghese. The latter event is headed by the Stronach Stables' Holy Helena, the 2017 Queen's Plate winner, and a winner of both her grass starts at Gulfstream last winter including a renewal of The Very One (G3T). She will be first-time Lasix for Jimmy Jerkens, after running a disappointing third in the Turnback the Alarm on dirt.