The 35th running of the Matriarch (G1), the featured seventh race on the Sunday, December 4th card at Del Mar, drew a competitive field of 12 fillies and mares three-years-old and upward led by 3-1 morning line favorite Miss Temple City, a winner of two Grade 1 races in 2016 on the turf against open company.
The four-year-old filly is coming off an honest effort in the Breeder’s Cup Mile (G1) against the boys, where she finished fifth of 14, beaten two and a quarter lengths for all the money at Santa Anita on November 5th.
Her primary competition figures to come from the top-class three-year-old filly Time and Motion, a winner of five-of-six starts this year including the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup (G1) at Keeneland, in addition to a trio of entrants from the Chad Brown barn—Zindaya, Mexican Gold and Roca Rojo (Ire). Brown’s three runners in yesterday’s Hollywood Derby (G1) finished first (Annals of Time), second (Beach Patrol) and seventh (Camelot Kitten).
The Green Sheet had a rough day on Saturday, December 3rd, at the Claiming Crown, giving out one winner on the nine-race program in the featured Claiming Crown Jewel Stakes. A $119.10 trifecta, also in the Jewel, took a little of the sting out of an otherwise long day at the races in South Florida.
Saturday’s Green Sheet spot plays failed to produce a cold winner, however our top selection in Turfway’s Holiday Inaugural—Marquee Cal Gal—was a game second, just missing the win by a neck at odds of 8-1.
Next weekend, The Green Sheet will focus on a pair of spot plays on the West Coast—the $300,000 Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (G1) for two-year-olds and the $300,000 Starlet (G1) for two-year-old fillies. Both races will be run on December 10 at an eight-and-a-half furlong trip on the dirt at Los Alamitos Race Course.
Click HERE for today’s spot play for Del Mar.