
Field of 9 Lined Up for Competitive $75,000 Astra Stakes
Sunday January 18 stakes action at Santa Anita is limited to the $75,000 Astra a mile and a half turf race that has drawn a field of nine.
Trainer Carla Gaines will saddle the 9/5 morning line favorite in Lady Pimpernel, who notched the first graded stakes win of her career December 27 in the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel. That effort was preceded by a third place finish in the Grade 3 Red Carpet Handicap November 22 at Del Mar. Lady Pimpernel has 5 wins from 16 career starts for earnings of $153,407. Victor Espinoza has the call breaking from post seven.
Motion saddles two
Stablemates, Kitten’s Point (5/2) and Lady of Gold (3/1), hail from the strong turf barn of Graham Motion. Kitten’s Point, a graded stakes winner, has been in poor form of late, finishing 7th, 7th, and 8th and in her last three starts – two of which came in Grade 1 races. Lady of Gold ran fourth behind Lady Pimpernel in the Frankel, and finished second, just ahead of that rival in the Red Carpet. While maintaining solid form of late, Lady of Gold has just 2 wins in 16 career starts.
Sadler also doubling up
John Sadler also sends out multiple runners, with a pair of 6/1 shots: Shysheisnot and Scooter Bird. Of the two, Shysheisnot may have more upside. The four year-old daughter of Tribal Rule has won three of her last five starts and will try stakes company for the first time since running fifth in the Soviet Problem in December of 2013 – her only off-the-board finish in eight career starts.
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