St Trinians Back On the Santa Anita Scene

One of the most one-sided divisions in the world thoroughbred racing scene has been the older females on America’s West Coast. Living legend Zenyatta (Street Cry) has stood atop this group like a colossus and it still took the best colt from the east coast dirt tracks to deal Big Z her one career-loss, albeit by a head. Racing observers would be forgiven for thinking there will never be another California girl like Zenyatta.

Vanquished by the 2010 Horse of the Year in her last race, British import St Trinians (Piccolo) is set for a dramatic return to Santa Anita as she lines up in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes. St Trinians conquered this race last year, her second career effort at the Great Race Place, and it will be interesting to see how she handles the dirt surface at Santa Anita as last year’s romp came on the cushion track with Joel Rosario up.

St Trinians has been viewed as a real success story for the relatively rare Wolverhampton to Santa Anita reference. An obscure all-weather runner in her native country, St Trinians has emerged as one of the leading older females on the circuit and now she’ll get a genuine opportunity to spread her wings.

The Mike Mitchell-trained miss stepped up to take on the boys in the Big ‘cap last year at Santa Anita and it will be extremely interesting to see if connections opt for the same fixtures this year. Another interesting statement would be to ship St Trinians to Oaklawn for the Apple Blossom if she shows a liking for the newly-installed dirt surface at Santa Anita. Expect St Trinians to command a very short price come Saturday’s female feature.