Ag Bullet © Benoit Photo

Locals Ag Bullet and Medoro are set to take on eastern-based rivals In Our Time and Ozara in Sunday’s $300,000 Grade I Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares, three years old and up, going one mile on the turf. The Matriarch is part of the FanDuel Racing Turf Festival on closing day at Del Mar.

Coming off a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on November 1, Ag Bullet will be stretching out after four previous sprint tries. Her last time going two turns was in last year’s Matriarch, where she came in third by one length on December 1. She resurfaced after a five-month layoff in Churchill Downs’ Grade III Unbridled Sydney, cutting back to five and a half furlongs where she finished a nonthreatening seventh. Ag Bullet came back sprinting a month later to add a couple of graded victories to her resume, starting with the Grade I Jaipur Stakes at Saratoga, and went wire to wire in the Grade II Ladies Turf Sprint at Keeneland. A five-year-old filly by Twirling Candy, Ag Bullet is campaigned by Richard Baltas for Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran. She has a record of 16-8-1-2 overall with $2,941,228 in earnings. She will be ridden by John Velazquez who was aboard for her Jaipur victory.

A consistent four-year-old filly out of the Peter Eurton barn, Medoro has never been worse than third in all her starts. Breaking her maiden at first asking, she went on a three race winning streak, stepping into stakes company taking down the Blue Norther, China Doll and the Grade III Providencia all at Santa Anita. Starting her four-year-old career, she returned to her winning ways in the Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar on July 20. Medoro’s most recent outing was the Goldikova stakes, where she finished third by one and a half lengths on November 1. Owned by C R K Stables LLC, Medoro sports a record of 11-5-3-3 with $502,600 in earnings. She will have Umberto Rispoli in the irons.

Coming west for Saffie Joseph, Jr., In Our Time, a speedy daughter of Not This Time, has hit the board in her last four starts for Resolute Racing and Miller Racing Inc. She is seeking her first stakes victory and has maintained good company in her bids for graded status. Coming in third in the Grade II Pegasus World Cup Invitational Filly and Mare Turf Invitational on January 25, she lead the way but was outkicked down the stretch by Be Your Best. Most recently on August 30, In Our Time was third in the Grade III Resolute Racing Ladies Turf Sprint, beaten three and a quarter lengths by Goldikova Stakes winner Special Wan. In Our Time will have a new rider aboard for the task in Javier Castellano.