BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Graded stakes-winning Florida-bred Nooni, who in her last start set the pace in the mile-and-one-sixteenth Net Jets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (Grade 1) before fading to sixth, will again race around two turns for trainer Bob Baffert in the Grade 2 Starlet at Los Alamitos Race Course Saturday. Seven 2-year-old fillies will do battle over a mile-and-a-sixteenth for the winner’s share of the $200,000 purse.
Vodka With A Twist, who was second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies won by Immersive, is the 5-2 morning line favorite while Nooni is listed as the second choice in the program at 7-2.
A nine-and-a-half-length winner in her first start against maiden special weight fillies at Santa Anita in June, Nooni won the Grade 3 Sorrento at Del Mar in her second start going six furlongs on Aug. 10. She disappointed when fifth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante won by Starlet rival and stablemate Tenma going seven furlongs on Sept. 7, but bounced back to finish second to Non Compliant in the Grade 2 Oak Leaf going a mile-and-a-sixteenth at Santa Anita on Oct. 5.
Nooni first turned heads at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales March Sale earlier this year when she topped the prestigious auction with a $1.8 million price tag. Current owner Amr Zedan and his Zedan Racing Stables Inc. purchased her out of the Ocala Stud consignment.
She is by Ocala Stud’s leading Florida freshman sire Win Win Win out of Unanimity, by Union Rags and was bred in the Sunshine State by Ocala Stud, Joseph M. O’Farrell III, David O’Farrell et. al. She has won two of five lifetime races with one second while banking $208,400.
Martin Garcia, who rode Nooni for the first time in the Oak Leaf but lost the mount to Flavien Prat in the Breeders’ Cup, returns to ride from post seven.
This will be the fourth consecutive race in which Vodka With a Twist faces Nooni as she looks to break a string of three consecutive runner-up performances. Vodka With a Twist was second to Nooni in the Sorrento then finished a nose behind Tenma in the Del Mar Debutante before going in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Trained by Phil D’Amato for Medallion Racing, Omar Aldabbagh, William Strauss, BlackRidge Stables LLC and Schwing Thoroughbreds, Vodka With a Twist has won two of six career starts with three seconds while earning $639,320.
She will be ridden by Kyle Frey from post three.
After winning the Del Mar Debutante, Tenma finished third in the Oak Leaf, more than eight lengths behind Nooni in second. She skipped the Breeders’ Cup and makes her first start since the Oak Leaf as she looks to improve on her career record of two wins in three starts with a third. She has earned $249,000 for owner Susan Chu and her Baoma Corp. and will be ridden from post five by Juan Hernandez.
Tenma is 4-1 on the morning line.
Rounding out the field are Aunt Mo and jockey Umberto Rispoli, Tiago Pereira rides Mawu, Look Forward will have Mario Gutierrez in the irons and Practical Dream has Antonio Fresu taking the call.
