Betting the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint

A total of nine fillies and mares will go about 6 1/2 panels down the Hillside Turf Course at Santa Anita on Saturday in the $125,000 Sunshine Millions Fillhttps://x.com/TwinSpires/status/1879332676097765613y and Mare Turf Sprint S. #7 Stay and Scam missed by a head while third in the race last season and rates as my confident top pick in the affair. Trained by Doug O’Neill, the five-year-old has won or placed in each of her nine prior runs at Santa Anita, and the Cal-bred also dons a 5-2-1-2 mark at this unique distance, too. 

Turf Sprint Wagers

• $2 superfecta 7 with 2 with 1,8 with all ($24)
• $1 superfecta 7 with 2 with all with 1,8 ($12)
• $1 superfecta 7 with 2,8 with 2,8 with all ($12)

Stay and Scam is winless from four races dating back to May which is a minor concern, but she has kept strong company along the way, and I expect her to outclass her rivals on Saturday as the one to beat. The Square Eddie mare can fire from anywhere on the surface and figures to be close turning for home with Umberto Rispoli retaining the ride. The miss will be a popular single on many tickets. 

#2 Moment’s Pleasure is consistently solid and will pose the main danger to the top pick for conditioner Craig Lewis. By Clubhouse Ride, the chestnut was a game allowance winner over open foes on the course at eight furlongs most recently and will retreat to a dash going down the hill for the first time in this endeavor. The Cal-bred chestnut owns a good turn of foot, and I don’t expect her to be that far back approaching the turn for home in a field without a lot of early zip. Kazushi Kimura will be in the stirrups. 

In addition to the obvious top pair, I’ll also dabble with two others in the heat in the lower rungs of the vertical exotics. The Gary Stute-trained #8 Safa owns a 4-1-3-0 mark on the Santa Anita turf and was an allowance heroine in June in her lone run down the hill. The four-year-old Grazen filly was a winner on the main oval in preparation for this and will stalk the tempo under Tiago Pereira. 

#1 Barbera has never run on the lawn, and she has yet to display the class to win a race of this caliber, but she is the pace of the race and could get brave if she dictates things from the start. This Aggie Ordonez-trained daughter of Stay Thirsty will be sent from the early stages by pilot Diego Herrera.