Strong Starlet Stakes Field Taking Shape
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Take Charge Brandi, the surprising winner of last month's 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I), will return to California for the $350,000 Starlet Stakes (gr. I) Dec. 13 at Los Alamitos Racecourse.
At 1 1/16 miles, the Starlet will be run for the first time at Los Alamitos after being offered as the Hollywood Starlet from 1981-2013 at Hollywood Park. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has confirmed that Take Charge Brandi is to run.
Owned by Willis Horton, Take Charge Brandi rolled gate-to-wire at 61-1 in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita Park Nov. 1. She followed that shocker with a win as the 2-1 favorite in the $500,000 Delta Princess (gr. IIIT) Nov. 22 at Delta Downs.
Another score in the Starlet—a race Lukas won a record five times at Hollywood Park, including four in a row (1994-1997)—would further strengthen her case for an Eclipse Award as the nation's 2-year-old filly champion. Take Charge Brandi has won three of seven starts with one second this year while earning $1,410,126.
The race would also be a homecoming for Lukas, who trained 23 Quarter Horse world champions while based at Los Alamitos five decades ago. He switched full-time to Thoroughbreds in 1978.
Fellow Hall of Fame trainers Bob Baffert and Jerry Hollendorfer could comprise as much as half of the Starlet field.
Baffert, who won the Starlet twice—with Excellent Meeting (1998) and Habibti (2001) in Inglewood—is likely to run Desi Arnaz Stakes runner-up Maybellene. Hollendorfer, who won the Starlet with Blind Luck in 2009 and in 2011 with Killer Graces, is considering Desi Arnaz winner Achiever's Legacy, Light the City, who won the Anoakia at Santa Anita in October, and Majestic Presence, third in the Delta Princess.
Other top contenders considered probable are the Todd Pletcher-trained Feathered, Danette, and Conquest Eclipse, who were fourth, fifth and seventh, respectively, in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
There were 80 fillies nominated to the Starlet. Entries will be taken Wednesday, Dec. 10.