2017 Las Cienegas Handicap Preview, Entries & Odds

OffTrackBetting.com - The G3 Las Cienegas Handicap comes our way this Saturday, January 7 from Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Fillies and mares four years old and upward will be featured when they race about 6 1/2 furlongs on Santa Anita's downhill Camino Real hillside Turf Course.

A short field of just five will take to the track in the Las Cienegas Handicap - race 3 on Santa Anita's stacked Saturday card. Post time is 1:30 PM. Here is a peek into the past performances of all five combatants for this G3 stakes.

2017 Las Cienegas Handicap Entries at Santa Anita Park

Prize Exhibit - British bred James Cassidy trained filly finished fourth in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and has certainly been up and down since. She posted two nice wins in early summer 2015 - the G3 Senorita Stakes in June and the G2 San Clemente Stakes at Del Mar in July. She went on to a respectable third in the G1 Del Mar Oaks in August and a second in the 2015 Yellow Ribbon Stakes. She hasn't looked great since however - she has placed in just one of her last 10 starts overall. Last time out was an eighth in the G1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar December 4 after a fifth in the G2 Goldikova Stakes at Santa Anita November 6, a fourth in the minor Swingtime Stakes on this track October 8, a tenth in the G2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar September 4, an OK second in the minor Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar in July, a seventh in the G2 Yellow Ribbon Stakes in July and a sixth in the G1 Just a Game Stakes at Belmont Park June 11. Prize Exhibit has shown form in the past but hasn't looked good lately. Mike Smith has been trusted with changing Prize Exhibit's fortunes around from gate 4.

Watch This Cat - Richard Baltas trained mare has three wins, four seconds and a third place finish in 15 career starts. She enters on a two race win streak - an Allowance Optional Claiming last time out November 4 and a Starter Allowance October 8 - both on this track. Before that was a second and a third respectively in a pair of Starter Allowance races and three off-the board finishes. Her only graded stakes start resulted in a fifth in the 2015 G3 Selene Stakes at Woodbine. Watch This Cat has been trending upward ahead of this weekend, has won his last two starts on this track and will be chasing her first stakes score from post 5. Corey Nakatani rides.

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Cadet Roni - highly regarded stakes winning Mark Glatt trained mare has four wins, a second and three third place finishes in 11 career starts. She made her graded stakes debut last time out and finished an OK third in the G3 Las Flores Stakes on this track way back on March 20. Before that was a two race winning streak - the minor Wishing Well Stakes by an impressive 6 3/4 lengths here January 31, 2016 and an Allowance Optional Claiming at Santa Anita January 10. She also had a third in an Allowance Optional Claiming in November 2016 and a Starter Optional Claiming score a month earlier. She has placed in four of her last five starts overall with three wins over that span- competitive every time out. Rafael Bejarano has been tabbed with keeping the roll going in Cadet Roni's first start in nine months and first ever start on this unique track - from the rail.

Paquita Coqueta - has 26 career starts for trainer Richard Mandella with 13 wins, four seconds and four third place finishes. He placed in his last eight starts in Chile with six wins over that span including the Group 2 Velocidad before shipping and has been decent in three North American starts. He makes his graded stakes debut Saturday off an Allowance Optional Claiming score are Del Mar December 3, a third and a second respectively in a pair of Allowance Optional Claiming races on California tracks. Paquita Coqueta was a force at home and hopes to make a little noise on North American soil Saturday. Flavien Prat gets the call from gate 2.

Lajatico - British bred Doug O'Neill trained filly has placed in six of eight career starts - three wins, a second and two third place finishes. She won her last two starts at home before debuting in North America with a seventh in an Allowance Optional Claiming on this track October 21. She bounced back to win an Allowance Optional Claiming last time out - at Del Mar November 25. Lajatico makes her stakes debut in decent form and will leave from post 3 with Drayden Van Dyke aboard.

2017 Las Cienegas Handicap Odds & Entries

Race 3 on Santa Anita's Saturday card with a Post Time of 4:30 PM.