Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Santa Ysabel offers depth beyond potential rematch
ARCADIA, Calif. – Both winter and spring are in the way of the highly anticipated rematch between undefeated Dream Tree and archrival Midnight Bisou.
California’s top 3-year-old fillies meet again Saturday at Santa Anita in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes, but a winter rain forecast adds uncertainty to the 1 1/16-mile race. So does the looming menace of spring, as in upstart filly Spring Lily.
Neither rain nor two turns is considered an issue for Midnight Bisou, runner-up twice to Dream Tree prior to a breakout Grade 2 win at seven furlongs. The Santa Ysabel is her first route. “She acts like the farther she goes, the better she’ll be,” trainer Bill Spawr said.
And if the track is wet, that is no problem for Midnight Bisou. “Mud foot,” Spawr said. “She’s got a Dixie-cup foot. Mike [Smith] said the way she hits the ground – like a springboard – those kind really handle an off track.”
While a wet track would not deter Midnight Bisou, trainer Bob Baffert will wait and see with Dream Tree. “We want to run,” Baffert said Thursday morning. “She’ll run unless the track is [unsatisfactory]. We don’t know what the track is going to be like.”
Dream Tree has won all four of her starts, including the Grade 1 Starlet at Los Alamitos in December and the Grade 2 Las Virgenes Feb. 4 at Santa Anita.
Yet even if winter’s late arrival does not compromise the Santa Ysabel favorites, they are not out of the woods due to the emergence of exciting but unseasoned Spring Lily.
One month after winning a highly rated maiden sprint, Spring Lily will stretch out and face winners in just her third start. Based on her romping maiden victory, pedigree, and physique, Spring Lily might be up to the challenge.
“This is the time of year where you want to test your 3-year-olds to see if they can make some of the bigger races later on,” trainer John Shirreffs said. “She’s a rangy filly, strong with a big shoulder.”
Notwithstanding her inexperience, Spring Lily enters the six-runner Santa Ysabel as a legitimate contender. Others include blinkers-off Thirteen Squared, whose front-running style suits the track profile, along with One Fast Broad and Sweetsongofthenile.
KEY CONTENDERS
Dream Tree, by Uncle Mo Last 3 Beyers: 82-81-86
◗ Based on her 27.55-second final quarter-mile in the Las Virgenes, Dream Tree seems vulnerable. Baffert cautions otherwise, pointing to her winter work pattern. After winning the four-horse Starlet in December at Los Alamitos, Dream Tree worked only three times during the two-month period leading to the Las Virgenes.
“She got sick on me,” Baffert said. “I really didn’t do much with her. She got paid for a good breeze.”
◗ Since the Las Virgenes, Dream Tree has not missed a beat. She will be ridden as usual by Drayden Van Dyke.
Midnight Bisou, by Midnight Lute Last 3 Beyers: 89-86-76
◗ Is she a late-running sprinter? Not according to Spawr. “She relaxes,” he said. “She finishes all her works unbelievably. A mile and a sixteenth might not be far enough.”
◗ Midnight Bisou, whose sire won the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Sprint in the mud, worked three furlongs Thursday morning in 39.60. She did the same thing – work three furlongs – two days before she won the Grade 2 Santa Ynez.
Spring Lily, by Union Rags Beyers: 88-49
◗ The front-running style in her maiden victory was a surprise to Shirreffs. “In the morning when you work her with another horse, she just stays with that other horse,” he said. “She doesn’t act like she’s really aggressive, like she wants to sprint.”
◗ If necessary, Shirreffs believes Spring Lily could sit behind the speed. “Her first race, she was so green, getting so much dirt, she didn’t know what to do,” Shirreffs said. “So that’s the first thing I did with her, put her behind horses and get a lot of dirt.”
◗ Spring Lily was transferred from Cliff Sise to Shirreffs after her debut. Her rider is Evin Roman.
Thirteen Squared, by Liaison Last 3 Beyers: 73-76-56
◗ She set a fast pace over a slow track while finishing fourth in the Las Virgenes, which prompted an equipment change.
“I took the blinkers off,” Baffert said. “She got rank the other day when that horse hooked her.”
◗ Thirteen Squared and Spring Lily benefit from the speed-friendly track profile. The last 15 races at 1 1/16 miles through Sunday were won by horses positioned first or second.