SANTA ANITA Del Mar next for Bendable

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bendable, who won her first start of 2017 in the $100,000 Desert Stormer Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday, is unlikely to start until the Del Mar summer season.

Trainer Richard Mandella said on Wednesday that he prefers to run her in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares at Del Mar on Aug. 13 over the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 8.

The Great Lady M. is worth $200,000, while the Rancho Bernardo is worth $100,000. Mandella said the timing of the two races is the deciding factor.

“It’s too soon,” he said of the Great Lady M. “Coming back as strong as she did, I think it’s better to give her time.”

Owned by Claiborne Farm, Bendable won the Desert Stormer Stakes at six furlongs for fillies and mares by 1 1/2 lengths. She was taken out of training last fall with a splint-bone injury.

By Horse Greeley, Bendable is considered a prospect for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 4. Bendable has won 4 of 6 starts and earned $212,000.

Avenge, third in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes on May 27 in her first start of the year, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 on Wednesday.

Trained by Mandella, Avenge is expected to start in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Del Mar on Aug. 5. Last year, Avenge won the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar and the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita before finishing third in the BC Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita.

Term of Art to Affirmed

There was no Triple Crown glory this year for trainer Doug O’Neill, a year after Nyquist gave the stable its second Kentucky Derby win.

Irap, the winner of the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in April, was 18th in the Kentucky Derby on May 6. Term of Art, a Grade 3 winner at Del Mar last November, was last of 10 in the Preakness Stakes two weeks later.

Those colts are essentially starting the season over when they begin their summer campaigns on Saturday. Irap is entered for the Grade 3 Ohio Derby at Thistledown, while Term of Art is scheduled to run in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita.

Term of Art, owned by Calumet Farm, is winless in five starts this year, including a well-beaten third to the retired Mastery in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 11 and a seventh in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in April. Term of Art, by Tiznow, won the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes at a mile last November.

The $100,000 Affirmed Stakes is run at 1 1/16 miles and is expected to be led by Battle of Midway, who was second in the Santa Anita Derby and third in the Kentucky Derby. Battle of Midway worked a half-mile in 47.60 seconds on Wednesday.

The Affirmed is expected to have a small field.

O’Neill said Term of Art can be competitive in the Affirmed if he returns to his March form.

“If he runs his San Felipe race, he’ll be tough to beat,” O’Neill said. “We’ve got Tyler Baze back on, and we’re thinking good thoughts.

“I do believe the Tiznows get better with age. We’re not hitting the panic button with this colt.”

A big race by Term of Art on Saturday could lead to a start in the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby, a $200,000 race at 1 1/8 miles on July 15. O’Neill also has Milton Freewater under consideration for that race. Milton Freewater was 10th in the Snow Chief Stakes for California-breds on turf May 29.

O’Neill said he might send a 3-year-old to the $250,000 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows on July 7 or the $500,000 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand on July 15. Both are Grade 3 races at 1 1/16 miles.

“It would be in play,” he said. “We’ve got a few derby prospects.”

The Affirmed is one of two Grade 3 races at Santa Anita on Saturday. The other one is the $100,000 Precisionist Stakes for older horses at 1 1/16 miles, which has a probable field of five – Accelerated, Cat Burglar, Collected, Donworth, and Keane.

John Sadler trains Accelerate. Bob Baffert trains Cat Burglar and Collected, while O’Neill has Donworth and Keane, an Argentine Grade 1 winner who has yet to start in the United States.