Ionia Heads Field for Barretts

It’s a good bet the majority of the 2-year-old fillies in the featured Barretts Debutante will be running for the richest purse of their careers, because this $100,000 race is restricted to distaffers who have passed through the sales ring here.

The most accomplished member of the cast would be the Indian Charlie offspring Ionia, who scored a front-running 44-1 upset in her Aug. 4 debut at Del Mar for trainer Chris Paasch. In her only other race, she tired after battling on some quick fractions from the rail in the Grade I Del Mar Debutante.

There is no runner near the likes of Miss Houdini or Santa Catarina this time, which means Ionia should pose an elusive target with veteran G.F. Almeida at the controls.

If she should fail to make the tight turns or falter when it counts, there are any number of interesting possibilities to pick up this prize. Last Kiss goes for sharp trainer Bill Spawr and will have the services of Tyler Baze, who is the early leader in the jockey race. After having trouble at the break in her debut last month, Last Kiss had no such problems out of the gate in her last and lost a hard battle with Sky’s Snow, who is also in this race.

The latter is conditioned by all-time Fairplex leading trainer Mel Stute, and this homebred turned things around in that aforementioned Aug. 30 race at Del Mar. That victory, plus the fact that she has since turned in a best-of-the-morning workout over this tricky course, is likely to get her lots of betting attention.

The picks: 1. More Candy. 2. One Fast Cartel. 3. Bearly Irish. 4. Gaslamp Girl. 5. Cat On Guard. 6. Barron H. 7. Time To Strike. 8. Miss Boomtown. 9. Immense Variety. 10. La Bandera. 11. Ionia. 12. Mystic Too.

Post time: 12:30 p.m.