Beautiful Gift heads Santa Anita Oaks; Search Results meets seven in Gazelle

Apr 01, 2021 by James Scully/TwinSpires.com

A pair of major Kentucky Oaks qualifiers, the $400,000 Santa
Anita Oaks (G2) and $250,000 Gazelle S. (G3), will be offered Saturday. Both
races will award 170 points (100-40-20-10 scale) toward a berth in the April 30 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

Santa Ysabel S. (G3) winner Beautiful Gift tops a field of five in the 1 1/16-mile Santa Anita
Oaks. By Medaglia d’Oro, the bay filly has won two straight for Hall of Fame
trainer Bob Baffert, and Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez rides the favorite.

Javanica looks
like a major player if she handles the transition to the main track. A two-time
stakes runner-up on turf in Southern California, the Eoin Harty-trained
Godolphin homebred filly exits a neck second to Kentucky Derby hopeful Rombauer
in the Feb. 13 El Camino Real Derby on Tapeta. Mike Smith picks up the mount.

Moraz, runner-up in
the Santa Ysabel and third in the Las Virgenes S. (G3), is also entered.
Michael McCarthy conditions the Empire Maker filly, and Umberto Rispoli will
guide the dark bay. Grade 2-placed Brilliant
Cut and debut maiden scorer Soothsay
complete the field.

At Aqueduct, eight sophomore fillies will contest the
Gazelle at 1 1/8 miles, and Search
Results is the one to beat following her win in the March 6 Busher
Invitational S.

The daughter of Flatter has captured both starts, easily
registering a field-best 100 Brisnet Speed rating for her half-length decision
in the Busher, and Irad Ortiz Jr. has the call for Chad Brown.

Brown will also send out Busanda S. winner The Grass Is Blue, third most recently
in the Busher.

Other runners include Alwayz
Late, who will switch to dirt and try stakes competition for Bill Mott
after a pair of nice turf wins at Gulfstream Park; last-out allowance scorer Army Wife; and Mia Martina, who switches surfaces after a rallying fourth in the
Florida Oaks (G3).