Published Friday, August 26th, 2016   ( 7 years ago )

Enola Gray Faces Seven in Torrey Pines Stakes Sunday

Enola Gray © Zoe Metz for Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
 
Enola Gray, unbeaten and untested in three races in her brief career, will attempt to emulate champions Beholder and Stellar Wind Sunday when she heads a field of eight three-year-old fillies in the Grade III $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar.
 
Beholder and Stellar Wind both utilized the one mile Torrey Pines Stakes as a summertime steppingstone to Eclipse Award championships as sophomore fillies when they won the middle-distance contest in 2013 and ’15, respectively.
 
Enola Gray, a daughter of Grazen bred and owned by Nick Alexander and trained by Phil D’Amato, debuted last April at Santa Anita and won by sixteen and one-quarter lengths. She then won the Melair Stakes easily in May and, most recently, took the seven-furlong Fleet Treat Stakes at Del Mar by almost eight lengths, earning a speed figure of 100. Tyler Baze again has the mount on Enola Gray who will be facing other than state-bred competition for the first time and will carry highweight of 124 pounds.
 
Seeking to upset Enola Gray will be Uptown Twirl, Victor Espinoza; Kay Kay, Alonso Quinonez; Nine Point Nine, Fernando Perez;  She’s a Warrior, Mario Gutierrez; Dreamarcher, Santiago Gonzalez; Bellamentary, Martin Garcia, and Belvoir Bay, Norberto Arroyo, Jr.
 
Bellamentary, also trained by D’Amato, and Kay Kay were second and third, respectively, behind the sensational Songbird in the Summer Oaks at Santa Anita in mid-June.
 
Post time for the first of ten races will be 2 p.m. Sunday.