Avenge tops Yellow Ribbon field

DEL MAR, Calif. – Avenge, third in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, is set to make her second start of the year Saturday in the Grade 2, $200,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile grass race for older females. The field is shaping up as the largest of the four stakes at Del Mar this weekend.

Her rivals are expected to include Amboseli, Cambodia, Corps de Ballet, Frenzified, Hillhouse High, Juno, and Pretty Girl. Also possible are a trio of high-class Eastern invaders: Sassy Little Lila, the runner-up to Antonoe in the Grade 1 Just a Game; Starship Jubilee, who dead-heated for the victory in the Grade 2 Dance Smartly at Woodbine; and Zipessa, the runner-up in last year’s Grade 1 Rodeo Drive.

Saturday will also feature the Grade 2, $200,000 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies going 6 1/2 furlongs, with runaway debut winners Diamonds and pearls and Spectator taking on unbeaten Landaluce Stakes winner Surrender Now in a compelling prep for the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante. Terra’s Angel also is expected to run, and Dancing Belle is possible.

Caribou Club, third in the Oceanside Stakes on opening day, is among the 3-year-old turf horses set for the Grade 3, $150,000 La Jolla Handicap on Sunday. Others likely to run include Colonist, Double Touch, Monster Man, and Sharp Samurai, with Cistron, Fashion Business, Offshore, Placido, Ready to Roc, and Taki’s Choice all possible.

Sunday’s supporting feature is the $100,000 Graduation Stakes, for California-bred 2-year-olds going 5 1/2 furlongs. Trainer Mike Machowsky could run as many as three: Drizzy, Schulace, and Utah Ute. Others likely to run include Bookies Luck, the filly Family Girl, Hit the Seam, Raven Creek, Sir Valentine, and Smokem.

Sadler counts days to BC Distaff

Stellar Wind finished second in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Distaff and fourth last year after stumbling at the start. Her third and final try in the race will be at Del Mar on Nov. 3. Trainer John Sadler gets constantly reminded the date is fast approaching.

“They’ve got that countdown sign outside the track,” he said Monday of a sign prominently displayed at the corner of Via de la Valle and Jimmy Durante. “It dropped under 100, now it’s in the 90s. That’s not that far away.”

Monday was the day after Sadler turned 61. The celebration was highlighted by Stellar Wind’s repeat victory in the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes, her third Grade 1 win in as many starts this year. Stellar Wind won an Eclipse Award at age 3 in 2015, and Sadler wants her to go out with one this year. She’s done all she can to this point. Now it’s up to Sadler to figure out the best way to get her to the Distaff, where a victory would clinch the title as champion older dirt female.

Last year, Stellar Wind followed her Hirsch victory with a win in the Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita prior to the Distaff. Sadler said he likely would follow the same schedule this year but left open the possibility of training Stellar Wind straight into the Distaff.

“Last year, I think she had too hard a prep in the Zenyatta,” Sadler said of Stellar Wind’s narrow victory over Beholder, in which she earned a careerbest Beyer Speed Figure of 110.

Encouraging for Sadler on Sunday was that Stellar Wind seemingly didn’t need to be aggressively ridden in the closing yards by jockey Victor Espinoza while staving off a stubborn Vale Dori.

“Espinoza said she had more left in the tank,” Sadler said. “I like that because she’s had to be ridden harder in the past.”

SHIGEKI KIKKAWA In her only start this year, Avenge was third in the Gamely.