Stakes winner Nymphette leads a field of ten in the Grade 2, $75,000 Las Damas Handicap on Saturday at Los Alamitos.

© Los Alamitos

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–NOVEMBER 14, 2024–Four mares with stakes victories in 2024, including three with local stakes wins, will lead the way when a full field of 10 distaffers face off in the Grade 2, $75,000 Las Damas Handicap on Saturday at Los Alamitos. The Las Damas is the final major race of the meet in the aged mare division, and just about every top mare at the Cypress track will be showing up in this 400-yard race.

Ed Allred’s Nymphette gets top billing after posting two impressive efforts during the second part of the year. Nymphette won the $50,000 Rolling A Ranch Matron Stakes here on July 27 and then finished second to the stellar Pattys Saint in the Grade 1, $125,000 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap on September 14.

Nymphette also ran third to Pattys Saint in both the $100,000 Abigail Kawananakoa and Grade 1, $100,000 Charger Bar Handicap. James Glenn, Jr. will saddle the Allred-bred Fly Thru The Fire mare, ridden by Jesus Rios Ayala.

The other stakes winners in action are Clanfield Act Stables’ Frivolous, who is a half-sister to Nymphette, Gary Laramie’s Jessica Cruz, and Boardshorts Stables’ AJ Run For Cash.

A major futurity winner as a juvenile, Frivolous has scored a pair of stakes wins this season. She won the Dashingly Handicap on January 7 and scored in the Florentine Stakes on August 17. Also bred by Allred, the Favorite Cartel mare is out of Nymph, who also produced Nymphette as well as the graded stakes winning males Sicario V and Monopolist.

Frivolous will enter this race after finishing second place to champion Fearless Moon in the Sound Dash Handicap on October 12.

The Elena Andrade-trained Jessica Cruz beat males in the Azure Three at 220 yards while also finishing in the top three when facing the likes of Pattys Saint and Nymphette. Bred by Double Bar S Ranch, Jessica Cruz was third in Mildred Vessels and second in the Abigail Kawananakoa and Miss Princess Handicap, all races won by Pattys Saint.

And why isn’t Pattys Saint in the Las Damas? She’ll be racing in the Champion of Champions on December 14.

Trained by Juan Aleman, AJ Run For Cash has always been a consistent performer, finishing in the top three in 13 of her 26 career starts. She’s competed in either a stakes trial or a stakes race in 18 of those outings. She enters this event after winning the Casino Downs Stakes at The Downs at Albuquerque on the AQHA Challenge Championship Night on October 26. AJ Run For Cash won the Falling In Loveagain at Los Alamitos last year.

The field from the rail out is as follows: Wise Lady Dawn, Frivolous, Jess Call Me Candy, Remember Her, Temple Court, Flash Of Sass, Escalated, AJ Run For Cash, Jessica Cruz and Nymphette.

**********************

Do you want more industry news delivered directly to your inbox? Click here to sign up.