Published Wednesday, September 1st, 2021   ( 2 years ago )

Dozen in the Gate Friday for Generous Portion Stakes

Conie Swingle | Benoit Photo

Connie Swingle © Benoit Photo

A dozen juvenile fillies – all of them having first seen light of day in the Golden State – will match strides over six furlongs Friday at Del Mar in the 29th edition of the $100,000 Generous Portion Stakes.

The race is part of the Golden State Series for California-bred or sired horses that consists of 36 events worth a total of $4.35 million over the course of the year at five different tracks in the state. Del Mar is hosting a total of eight of them during its 2021 summer season.

The morning line favorite in the six-furlong dash is Nick Alexander’s homebred Connie Swingle, a daughter of Alexander’s star stallion Grazen who’ll break from the outside 12 Post in the lineup. The gray miss was a galloping winner of a straight maiden race at Del Mar on August 6 in her most recent try and trainer Phil D’Amato has once again assigned rider Giovanni Franco to handle her. Del Mar morning line maker Jon White has pegged her at 5/2.          

Following White’s line, Connie Swingle’s chief rival is William Peeples’ Drizella, who bested Connie Swingle by half a length on July 2 at Los Alamitos in a straight maiden test, then came back to be beaten only a neck in the CTBA Stakes at Del Mar on August 5. Drizella is by the Malibu Moon stallion Stanford and is trained by Luis Mendez. She’ll be coming out of Post 2 Friday.

Here’s the full field for the Generous Portion from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:

Slugo Racing or Paymaster Racing’s Cause She’s a Lady (Drayden Van Dyke, 20-1); Drizella; Lovinger, Madiha or Navarro’s Madiha (Umberto Rispoli, 10-1); LNJ Foxwoods, Jungle Racing, et al’s Stopdropandroll (Ricky Gonzalez, 8-1); KMN Racing’s Zuboshi (Kyle Frey, 6-1); ERJ Racing, Great Friend Stable, et al’s Sally Stanford (Abel Cedillo, 12-1); Reddam Racing’s Eleuthera (Mario Gutierrez, 15-1); Nick Alexander’s Carmen Miranda (Flavien Prat, 6-1); George Krikorian’s Big Novel (Joe Bravo, 6-1); Neary Racing or Moger’s Irish Wahine (Kent Desormeaux, 20-1); Weeks, Weeks or Weeks’ Bold Choice (Victor Ezpinoza, 30-1), and Connie Swingle.

Zuboshi, a bay daughter of Straight Fire, showed speed throughout to capture a five-furlong straight maiden race on the turf at Del Mar on July 30. She won by six and a half lengths that afternoon.

Carmen Miranda scored at first asking at Los Alamitos on July 2, then came back to finish fifth of nine in the CTBA Stakes here on August 5. She’s one of three runners in the field sired by Stanford.

Big Novel, a homebred by Mr. Big, chased home Carmen Miranda in her racing debut on August 6. She’s trained by John Sadler.

First post for Friday’s eight-race program is 3:30 p.m.