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ARCADIA, Calif. -- When a 5-year-old mare named St Trinians heads postward in Saturday's running of the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap (G1), she'll attempt to become the first female winner in the race's 73-year history. But beating the boys is old hat for this plucky English runner, and trainer Mike Mitchell expects her to be among the leaders right down to the "Big 'Cap" wire.

Mitchell, 61, is one in a host of horsemen crossing their fingers in the hope that Saturday's forecast -- calling for a 70 percent chance of precipitation -- will permit the show to go on. The late winter season has not been particularly kind to Santa Anita Race Course, where two key Kentucky Derby prep races have been rescheduled due to rain and drainage issues with the surface. One of those races, the Sham, will also be contested Saturday as part of a card that includes three Grade 1 events -- the Big 'Cap, the Frank E. Kilroe Mile Handicap, and the Santa Anita Oaks. The latter is a prep for the Kentucky Oaks.

In spite of all technical issues, when given the chance, runners at "The Great Race Place" can still put on a show. It's been this way since Christmas Day in 1934, when Santa Anita opened its' gates for the first time. And the Big 'Cap, run at 1 ¼-miles over the wide California oval, has been here all along.

From its' inaugural running at the beginning of 1935, when a 7-year-old steeplechase horse named Azucar shocked the world by winning what was then horse racing's richest purse, to recent times when Lava Man, formerly a $50,000 claimer, became just the third horse in history to win back-to-back runnings (2006-07), the Big Cap has held the attention of racing fans and pundits alike. Thanks to Mitchell, this year's $750,000 edition is no exception.

The trainer's gutsy runner has trounced her competition in all four starts for owners Dan Capen and Laura Chavers since her first race in the U.S. in March of 2009, and her most recent score was over Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic (G1) winner Life Is Sweet in the Feb. 13 Santa Maria Handicap (G2). In England, St Trinians tangled with the boys five times and emerged victorious in three of those competitions. In one, over Polytrack at Wolverhampton, she scored a 14-1 upset while going 1 3/16 miles in a field of 10. She has been installed as the 7-2 favorite in the Big 'Cap by Santa Anita's morning-line oddsmaker, Jon White.

"The Big 'Cap is a race that I've run in a couple times and I really feel like this mare belongs," Mitchell said.

Of the 13 male runners that entered Wednesday, only one -- Tiger's Rock -- comes into the race on a string of victories, and both (the Dec. 31 Gallant Fox and the Jan. 31 Coyote Lakes) were on the dirt at Aqueduct.

The fact that 41 other fillies have tried -- and failed -- to take on male company in previous runnings of Santa Anita's marquee event has not gone unnoticed by the California trainer.

"Two of my idols were Bobby Frankel and Charlie Whittingham, and I saw them win a lot of editions of the Big 'Cap, and I've seen a lot of great horses win it as well," he said. "But we'll get the 3-pound sex allowance in weights, and I think that's important going the distance. Besides, my mare is really good right now."

St Trinians will carry 113 pounds compared to the 117 shared by four of the race's top contenders. The dark horse in the field -- which includes Grade 2 winners Misremembered (a Bob Baffert trainee who has played runner-up in his past three starts including the Feb. 13 Strub Stakes) and Neko Bay (winner of the Jan. 9 San Pasqual Handicap for trainer John Shirreffs) -- is the Julio Canani-trained Loup Breton, a 6-year-old turf specialist who will be making his first start on the synthetic surface. The son of Anabaa is White's second choice on the morning line at odds of 4-1 and enters the race off a Jan. 24 victory in the San Marcos Stakes (G2). He raced 18 times overseas, predominantly in France, and was victorious in Group 2 and Group 3 events before joining Canani's stable last fall.

"I would fear the Canani horse because of the connections," Mitchell reported. "Julio is a superb horseman and if he's going to take his horse from turf to synthetic, he knows what he's doing."

Oaks All About "Luck"

The Santa Anita Oaks will be all about 'Luck -- a filly named Blind Luck, to be exact. The three-time Grade 1 winner has a 5-1-1 record from seven starts and comes off a Feb. 13 score in the Las Virgenes Handicap in which she closed late for a desperate victory by a nose over long shot Evening Jewel. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer also owns a percentage of the daughter of Pollard's Vision with Mark DeDomenico and John Carver. She'll pair with top jockey Rafael Bejarano to take on Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3) winner Crisp, a daughter of El Corredor trained by John Sadler. Sadler also sends out Ann and Jerry Moss's Cozi Rosie, a daughter of Pleasantly Perfect, off back-to-back maiden and allowance wins. Shipping in with an attempt to upset the 1 1/16 mile race is Ronny Werner trainee All Due Respect, a daughter of Value Plus who broke her maiden Jan. 24 by 7 1/4 lengths at the Fair Grounds. Garrett Gomez gets the mount.

Sham Back On

Nextdoorneighbor could be Mike Machowsky's second solid Kentucky Derby contender after the 1 1/8-mile Sham Stakes (G3). A stablemate of Robert B. Lewis Stakes winner Caracortado, the son of Lido Palace comes off a Jan. 24 score in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race by four lengths. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will be in the saddle. Originally scheduled for Feb. 27, the Sham was cancelled last week when the Santa Anita surface failed to drain properly after torrential rains hit Arcadia. But eight of the 10 entrants -- including Nextdoorneighbor -- were originally scheduled to contend in the test for 3-year-olds last week to solidify their Triple Crown aspirations. Trainers are hoping the time crunch won't affect their schedules severely. Of most interest in the race is the Bob Baffert trainee The Program, who is coming off a pair of solid efforts at 1 1/6 miles (a win and a third). The son of Harlan's Holiday preceded those races Dec. 19 by finishing fourth, 1 ½ lengths behind stablemate Lookin At Lucky, the early Kentucky Derby favorite, in Hollywood Park's CashCall Futurity (G1).

Saturday's four graded-stakes races will be begin with the Sham as the seventh race. The $250,000 Santa Anita Oaks will follow, then the $250,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile on the turf, and the Santa Anita Handicap. HRTV will televise the entire card. If rain spoils the card, the Sham will be run on Sunday as race 10 and the other stakes will be rescheduled.

Claire Novak is an award-winning journalist whose coverage of the thoroughbred industry appears in a variety of outlets, including The Blood-Horse magazine, the (Albany, N.Y.) Times Union and NTRA.com. She lives in Lexington, Ky.

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