Connections Hope Five G on speed in La Brea

In her first start since winning the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) in late March, Five G will attempt to secure the first Grade 1 victory of her career when she concludes her 3-year-old season in the $300,000 La Brea Stakes on December 28 at Santa Anita Park.

The 7-furlong test for 3-year-old fillies offers an excellent opportunity as Five G is the only winner of the 11 runners entered.

Five G, a proprietary breeder of Gatsas Stables, will attempt to secure its third win of the season on Sunday at Santa Anita. The daughter of Vekoma took a first win at 2 at 1 1/16 miles aqueduct, and opened her 3-year campaign this year with a 9-part romp in the Cash Run Stakes on January 1 at Gulfstream Park.

Five G, trained by George Weaver, followed with a second place finish Quiet side in the Honeybee Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park for her 2 1/4 length lead in the Gulfstream Park Oaks. A day before the Kentucky Oaks (G1), Weaver dropped Five G from that scheduled start because she had gotten out of shape.

The New York-bred Five G will attempt the seven-furlong distance for the first time in her career on Sunday, but she impressed in the Cash Run on the one-turn mile at Gulfstream. Five G returned to serious training in late October at 48:45 with a half-mile breeze on the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga Race Coursewho deserved the bullet among 49 workers. She followed with four moves at Palm Beach Downs and worked four furlongs on the Santa Anita surface on December 19.

Five G will start from post 3 on Sunday, with a pair of ranked runners in her Just a joke at the track and So there she was in post 2. While Five G finished second to Quietside in February, Simply Joking finished second to that filly when three-quarters of a length back in the Fantasy Stakes (G2) in March. Trained by Michael McCarthy, Simply Joking will already compete in Southern California as a daughter of Practical joke finished second in the Bayakoa Stakes (G3) on November 30 at Sea.

So There She Was, trained by Doug O’Neill, earned a Grade 1 placing at 2 when she finished third in the Del Mar Debutante Stakes. This year the daughter of Munnings added a second-place finish in the Torrey Pines Stakes (G3) and a victory in the Remington Park Oaks.

Owner/breeder Spendthrift Farm will be looking for a La Brea repeat if Magnificat is scheduled to make her stakes debut after narrow victories in a 6-furlong maiden race at Santa Anita and a 6 1/2-furlong race at Del Mar. Spendthrift conquered last year’s La Brea with A copy who scored at 37-1 that day, but proved to be no fluke as she followed up with victories in the Santa Monica Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita and Derby City Distaff (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Just like Kopion, Magnificat was trained by Richard Mandella and is a daughter of Omaha Beach .