Ogle © Benoit Photo

It’s the 2-year-old fillies turn to take a spin on the turf course when they run the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf on Sunday. It’s the last of three stakes races on the card and features nine fillies, eight of whom have never faced winners. Half the field is coming off of maiden scores and only two have won at the same one-mile distance they’ll be negotiating in Juvenile Fillies Turf.

One of those is Ogle, a daughter of Oscar Performance who won at first asking at Del Mar last month. She got off a step slow in the race but angled out and came rolling late to win by 2 ¼ lengths.

“I expected her to run well first time out,” trainer Michael McCarthy admits. “I was torn whether to wait for Santa Anita or send her to Kentucky Downs but she gets to run out of her own stall here and she gets Juan Hernandez.”

Another with two-turn experience is Dee Snook from the barn of Del Mar’s leading trainer Doug O’Neill. The Irish-bred started her career at Churchill Downs but it wasn’t until she came out to Del Mar and they stretched her out to the mile that she responded with a nice victory on July 26, coming from the back of the pack and picking them up late.

“She was a good surprise for us,” O’Neill’s assistant Leandro Mora says. “We’re excited with how she finished and, if she comes in first or second here, we can start dreaming about the Breeders’ Cup.”

While the Juvenile Fillies Turf is not a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup, the lack of one-mile turf races for 2-year-olds makes it a good prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland on October 30.

Vanta is the morning line favorite in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf. She also won at first asking for trainer Jeff Mullins on July 31 at Del Mar. That race was five furlongs on the grass so she’ll be stretching out and facing winners for the first time Sunday.

Handicappers know to always be aware of a European shipper and this race has two. River in Paradise will make her U.S. debut Sunday after breaking her maiden at first asking going six furlongs on the all-weather at Lingfield in England in June.

“She came to us in the early part of July,” trainer Leonard Powell notes. “She was bought by Marsha Naify in England. She only has one start but we’ve been very happy with her. We’ve worked with her on the grass a few times and she’s got better with every work. We expect a good effort.”

The other Euro is Queenofthewild, an Irish-bred who is still a maiden. She ran twice in Ireland before being purchased by Little Red Feather, Sterling Stables and Marsha Naify in June and will be making her first start for them and trainer Philip D’Amato.

Another worth noting is Less Please, a daughter of Pavel, who missed by a nose in her debut at Del Mar in July. Trainer Edward Freeman switched her to turf and she won easily in her second start last month. She’ll be trying two turns for the first time.

Further still Blockade broke her maiden second time out at Los Alamitos by eight lengths in June. She followed with a fifth-place finish in the G3 Sorrento last month. This will be her first race on the grass but in her final workout for trainer Ryan Hanson she posted a bullet for five furlongs in 1:00.60 (1/11) on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

The 15th running of the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf is Race 9 on Sunday’s 11-race card. Probable post time is 5:30 p.m.

Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: River in Paradise (Drayden Van Dyke, 20-1); Ogle (6-1); Blockade (Adrian Escobedo, 20-1); Vanta (Umberto Rispoli, 2-1); Dee Snook (Antonio Fresu, 4-1); Less Please (Hector I. Berrios, 5-1); Vendetta (Kazushi Kimura, 8-1), Confetti Rain (Emisael Jaramillo, 15-1), and Queenofthewild (Joel Rosario, 6-1).