SANTA ANITA skye diamonds meets Selcourt

ARCADIA, Calif. – The established mare will be challenged by a rapidly improving filly in Sunday’s Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes at Santa Anita.

Skye Diamonds, who won three stakes last year and was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar last November, has outstanding credentials, but so does Selcourt, an easy winner of the minor Kalookan Queen Stakes on Jan. 14.

The $100,000 Las Flores Stakes is run at six furlongs for fillies and mares and drew a field of six, including three other stakes winners – Citizen Kitty, Coniah, and Princess Karen. Just a Little Hope will be a longshot.

Skye Diamonds and Selcourt have the outermost post positions. They will be the focus for bettors throughout the race.

KEY CONTENDERS

Selcourt, by Tiz Wonderful Last 3 Beyers: 96-86-87

◗ Selcourt won her first stakes in her fourth career start in the Kalookan Queen for fillies and mares. Ridden by Tyler Baze, Selcourt led throughout the race at 6 1/2 furlongs and won by 7 1/2 lengths. The Kalookan Queen was Selcourt’s first start since a third-place finish in the Angels Flight Stakes at seven furlongs last May.

“She looks unbelievably good,” trainer John Sadler said. “We thought she was good coming back. She came back bigger and stronger.”

◗ Sadler said Thursday he was particularly enthused about the way Selcourt worked five furlongs in 1:00 last Sunday, the fastest of 71 recorded works at the distance that day. Owned by a partnership that includes breeder Keith Abrahams, Selcourt may set the pace in the Las Flores.

“She has so much natural speed,” Sadler said. Skye Diamonds, by First Dude Last 3 Beyers: 87-99-97

◗ Skye Diamonds had only three starts in the final three months of 2017, a campaign meticulously designed toward the BC Filly and Mare Sprint. Skye Diamonds won the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos in July and the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at Del Mar a month later, stalking the pace before pulling clear in the final furlong of each race.

◗ In the BC Filly and Mare Sprint, Skye Diamonds took her customary position as a stalker but could not close ground in the final furlong, losing by 3 1/2 lengths to the upset winner Bar of Gold.

◗ The Las Flores is geared as a prep for the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at seven furlongs on March 24 but is a race Skye Diamonds can win, according to trainer Bill Spawr. He timed Skye Diamonds in approximately 34 seconds for the final three furlongs of a six-furlong workout on the infield training track earlier this month.

“She’s finishing her works very well,” he said. “She looks bigger and stronger than before.”

◗ A quick filly such as Selcourt will give jockey Tiago Pereira a target to pursue aboard Skye Diamonds, who Spawr said has an edge in experience. “We’ve done what they’re trying to do,” he said.

Coniah, by Harlington Last 3 Beyers: 96-94-97

◗ Coniah, who won the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes on the hillside turf course Jan. 20, has been part of a wildly successful winter-spring meeting for trainer William E. Morey, who won with nine of his first 20 starters.

◗ Coniah has excellent form on turf and dirt. She was second in the Grade 3 Desert Stormer Stakes here last June in her final start of 2017.

“It’s a solid race for a Grade 3,” Morey said of the Las Flores. “I think on her best day, she fits with them.”

BARBARA D. LIVINGSTON Skye Diamonds was one of the top female sprinters in 2017, with three stakes and a fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.