By DRF.com
ARCADIA, Calif. (Mar. 31, 2024) – One unexpected benefit to the Santa Anita rain cancellation last week is the subsequent upgrade to the field for the Grade 3 Wilshire Stakes, a turf-mile for fillies and mares postponed from Saturday to Thursday.
The five-day delay provided California-bred stakes-winning sprinter Stay and Scam 19 days between starts, and allows her to run in the Wilshire as the likely pacesetter and most probable winner. If the race had been run as scheduled last Saturday, Stay and Scam would have stayed in the barn.
“She was not planned to run last weekend,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “The postponement definitely opened up that conversation, and here we are.”
Stay and Scam’s owner and breeder, Paul Reddam, supplemented Stay and Scam to the Wilshire for $2,000. The move may pay dividends. Stay and Scam won the Irish O’Brien Stakes for California-bred turf sprinters on March 17 and could be long gone in Wilshire. That is, if she stays two turns.
“If the pace scenario cooperates, I don’t think two turns will be a problem,” O’Neill said. “It just depends on where she fits class-wise.”
None of the Wilshire entrants are sharper than Stay and Scam. A 5-for-10 filly by Square Eddie with earnings of $290,760, Stay and Scam finished a close third in a California-bred stakes in January, won a second-level allowance in February, and scored a pace-pressing victory in the Irish O’Brien. Those three races were sprints on the hill; Stay and Scam will try a mile for the first time in the Wilshire.
The Wilshire is race 7 on Thursday; the Grade 3 American is race 9. After front-runner Stay and Scam, the Wilshire field blurs. Ten entered, including four trained by Phil D’Amato – School Dance, Turnerloose, Leisurewear, and Adaay In Asia. Nadette was supplemented following a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Buena Vista last month. Others are Selenaia, Ascendancy, Glenall, and Thirty Carats.
Stay and Scam, if she maintains her composure, can wire the field under rider Mario Gutierrez. O’Neill credits the filly’s improvement to maturity.
“She got herself a little worked up prior to races in the past,” he said. “Now, she’s just more comfortable in her skin and doing things within herself. We’re seeing better results and seeing her come out of her races in better shape too.”
The Wilshire is anyone’s race if the likely pacesetter does not stay the trip. An upset candidate is School Dance, who had been off six months when she finished sixth last out in a hillside turf sprint stakes in February.
“I think it was a good prep. She had some trouble late,” D’Amato told Santa Anita publicity. “Now we’re stretching her out, and this is what she does best. I think that last race set her up for a good performance.”
Kazushi Kimura rides School Dance.
Leisurewear benefits by the shorter distance Thursday after tiring in two recent longer stakes tries. She has tactical speed to be positioned second and could get first run if Stay and Scam falters. The turf rails are down Thursday. Pacesetters have won two of the last five turf miles with the rails down and 6 of 23 this meet.