Anisette, Didia prep for BC with clash in John C. Mabee Stakes
By: Steve Anderson DRF
Nearly a year after they finished first and second at Santa Anita, Grade 1 winners Didia and Anisette meet again in Saturday’s Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar.
While the $250,000 Mabee Stakes, at 1 1/8 miles on turf for fillies and mares, is a worthwhile goal, the main objective is preparing Didia and Anisette for a greater target, the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
Didia, trained at Keeneland by Ignacio Correas, will have her debut at Del Mar in the Mabee after mixed results at Saratoga in recent months. Didia won the Grade 1 New York Stakes in June and was fourth by 1 1/4 lengths in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on July 13.
“I think the Diana was one of the strongest races of the year,” Correas said.
Owned by Merriebelle Stables and Resolute Racing, Didia has been sent to Del Mar to gain experience on the course in advance of an intended start in the BC Filly and Mare Turf at 1 3/8 miles.
“I think it’s good for her to be at Del Mar,” Correas said.
Didia disputed the pace in the Grade 2 Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park last January, a race she won by a neck. It is possible she will set the pace in the Mabee, which drew a field of seven, but lacks a clear pacesetter.
Hector Berrios, who has won five stakes at Del Mar this summer, has the mount on Didia for the first time.
Anisette, trained by Leonard Powell, is a stalker, who is in peak form this year for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. A 4-year-old, Anisette won the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita in her 2024 debut on May 27, and her lone start of the summer in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar on Aug. 10.
Last October, Anisette was beaten 1 3/4 lengths by Didia in the Grade 2 Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Santa Anita, one of her two losses in eight starts since arriving from England in early 2023.
Powell expects Anisette to give Didia a stronger challenge in the Mabee.
“Last year, she was a 3-year-old and now I think we’re on even terms,” he said. “It was her first time going 1 1/4 miles and first time against older horses.”
In her two wins this year, Anisette has closed from well off the pace. Powell says Anisette has been a patient filly for jockey Umberto Rispoli as a race develops.
“She’s a more mature filly and she settles a lot more in her races,” Powell said. “Last year, she really needed a strong pace to settle.”
The Mabee is the third trip to California this year for Fuente Ovejuna, who is based with trainer Brendan Walsh in Kentucky. Fuente Ovejuna finished in a dead-heat for second in the Yellow Ribbon Handicap with Uncorked, who is also part of the Mabee field.
Uncorked is one of three runners in the Mabee trained by Phil D’Amato, who also starts the longshots Hang the Moon and Lucky Girl.
Uncorked, who tends to run as a closer, won the Grade 3 Royal Heroine Stakes at Santa Anita in April and was a troubled eighth in the Gamely. Uncorked led in the stretch of the Yellow Ribbon before losing by 1 1/4 lengths.
“I thought it was a good race,” D’Amato said. “I thought at the top of the lane we’d be a winner. She fought on hard. She was second best.”