Juvenile fillies will take center stage on Sunday at Los Alamitos in the $100,000 Cinderella Stakes. The race will be contested at six furlongs and as part of the tracks first Thoroughbred meet in 23 years and has drawn a field of six fillies.
Heart of Paradise has been installed as the morning line favorite at 6-5 and will break from post position two with Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith in the irons for the first time. Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, the daughter of More than Ready was a $145,000 yearling purchase and delivered in her career debut with a front-running maiden victory at Santa Anita.
Second choice at 5-2 on the morning line is Shh She’s Ours, a juvenile daughter of Tiz Wonderful. Trained by Paul Aguirre and ridden by Iggy Puglisi, the bay filly made her first start a winning one with a sharp win on the front end at Los Alamitos on July 4. She prevailed by 1 ¾ lengths after setting quick early fractions over a field of eight rivals.
Trainer Mike Harrington will saddle a pair of maidens in the stakes race, Abets Abet at 10-1 and Slew’s Charm at 10-1. Abets Abet is winless from three starts but will get the addition of blinkers for the first time with regular rider Aaron Gryder aboard. Slew’s Charm comes out of a runner-up effort in her second career start last time out and Tyler Baze has retained the mount. Both fillies will break from the outside.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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