OAK TREE : Absence of the Top Two Helps Swell Field for Yellow Ribbon

Although it is a contentious race and offers many betting opportunities, the $400,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes Sunday at Santa Anita won’t be the best turf race for fillies and mares this month.

That honor will go to the $400,000 Matriarch on Nov. 28 at Hollywood Park, which will bring together Flawlessly and Toussaud. Those two ran in the Breeders’ Cup Mile a week ago.

In their absence, there was no shortage of entrants for the Yellow Ribbon on Friday. Thirteen fillies and mares were entered in the Grade I race, including probable favorite Let’s Elope.

The New Zealand-bred mare, who was disqualified out of a victory over Flawlessly in the Beverly D. at Arlington Park in August, will try against her own sex again after being beaten by Kotashaan and Luazur in the Oak Tree Invitational.

One of only four entrants in the Invitational, Let’s Elope finished third, 9 1/2 lengths behind Kotashaan and, afterward, jockey Pat Valenzuela said she didn’t care for the course.

“The turf was too soft for her,” he said. “The clods were coming up, and she just couldn’t get ahold of it. She stumbled a couple of times and was never able to get anything going the way she usually does.”

Six horses in the Yellow Ribbon will be making their first start in California, including Europeans Market Booster and Verveine.

A 4-year-old daughter of Lear Fan, Verveine won a Group II stakes at Longchamp and, before that, was second to Arc winner Urban Sea. She will be ridden by Mike Smith, the national leader in earnings.

Bobby Frankel, who leads the trainers in earnings, will have three starters in the Yellow Ribbon, but a victory by either Lyphard’s Delta, Revasser or Possibly Perfect would be considered a surprise.

Lyphard’s Delta has won four of seven against lesser horses in England, while Revasser was beaten by a neck at 4-5 by Miatuschka, another Yellow Ribbon longshot, in the Golden Harvest Handicap at Louisiana Downs in her last appearance. Possibly Perfect, a 3-year-old, has won three of five in the United States and was second to Hollywood Wildcat in the Del Mar Oaks.

The rest of the entrants include Bright Generation, second in the Long Island Handicap at Belmont Park in her U.S. debut last month; Miami Sands, a troubled second in the Queen Elizabeth Cup at Keeneland on Oct. 30; Tribulation, the 21-1 winner of that race; Hero’s Love, who has won two in a row at Woodbine; Campagnarde and Lady Blessington, a multiple-stakes winner who has been worse than third only once in 10 starts this year.

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Seven days after the fact, some final thoughts on Breeders’ Cup X:

--In regards to Kotashaan and Lure, there should be no argument about which is more deserving of horse of the year. Kotashaan won five Grade I races, four more than Lure.

--Easterners are making the push for Lure simply because he was the only horse from the other coast that won last Saturday.

--There is no combination better in big-money races than trainer Neil Drysdale and jockey Eddie Delahoussaye.

--Although it is easy to say now, there was a feeling through the entire stretch run of the Distaff that Paseana was never going to get by Hollywood Wildcat.

--Why, as one writer wrote, is Sky Beauty’s yearly record better than Hollywood Wildcat’s? They each won five races, and the only time they met, Hollywood Wildcat easily defeated Sky Beauty. The latter made her reputation by beating small fields--the most horses she defeated in any race was seven--in New York, and we got an idea of how strong New York racing is a week ago.

--Bleeding or not bleeding, Dehere is a late-running sprinter, and that fact will be proved even further when he returns next year.

--Here’s news for those who want the Breeders’ Cup Sprint to be lengthened to seven furlongs: Cardmania still would have won last week, and Thirty Slews still would have won a year ago.

--Prediction: Pleasant Tango, who ran fifth in the Classic, missing fourth by a neck, will be the best 4-year-old in the nation next year.

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Sensational Eyes, who has won three in a row for trainer Gary Jones, is the favorite in the $100,000-added Linda Vista Breeders’ Cup Handicap today at Santa Anita.

After the scratch of Tour Friday, Sensational Eyes will have five rivals in the 1 1/16 mile race. A California-bred daughter of Roman Majesty, she is unbeaten since being stretched out around two turns. Her main rivals today will be Stalcreek and Swazi’s Moment.

Stalcreek is the second morning-line choice, and she was second on this track to Eliza in the Santa Anita Oaks earlier this year. Swazi’s Moment is fresh off a victory in the mud in the Palo Alto Handicap at Bay Meadows.

Horse Racing Notes

Entries will be taken for Monday’s closing-day program. The meeting was scheduled to end Sunday, but Monday’s program is a makeup for the day lost due to the Oct. 28 fires. . . . Answer Do, who tailed off badly this year, has been retired. The 7-year-old gelding finished his career with 15 victories and nearly $800,000 in earnings. . . . Favored Lyin To The Moon won the $61,300 Commissary Handicap on Friday, giving trainer Richard Mandella his fifth stakes victory in the last seven run at Santa Anita.