High Resolve Defends 'Millions F&M Sprint

High Resolve will be back to defend her title in the $200,000 Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Sprint at Santa Anita Jan. 30.

A field of 13 is set to contest the six-furlong Pro-Ride test. The Filly & Mare Sprint is the first of three Sunshine Millions events on the Santa Anita program and will go off as the sixth race. It will be followed by the $300,000 Filly & Mare Turf and the $500,000 Classic.

Russell Baze rides High Resolve, a Northern California-based gray, for co-owner and trainer Greg Gilchrist. The 5-year-old Florida-bred daughter of Put It Back wired her opposition by 2 1/4 lengths at Gulfstream Park last year with Robby Albarado aboard.

A winner of her first five starts by a combined 26 lengths before suffering a loss, the ultra consistent speedster has recorded a 7-3-2 record in 13 races while earning $452,098. Fourth in Santa Anita’s Kalookan Queen Handicap in her last start on Jan. 3, it was the first time she had ever finished out of the money.

Dubai Majesty, second to High Resolve in last year’s Filly & Mare Sprint, takes another crack at her rival. The Florida-bred and based 5-year-old mare by Essence of Dubai has earned $499,519 during an active career that includes 24 starts with an 8-3-5 showing. Regular rider Jamie Theriot gets the call from trainer Bret Calhoun.

Garrett Gomez has the mount on another hard-hitting Florida-bred, Libor Lady. The 5-year-old mare by Exchange Rate, trained by Michael Pino for David Ross, has put together a 9-5-3 record in 21 starts while banking $335,375. She is a winner of three minor stakes races.

California-based trainer Mike Mitchell will saddle another promising Florida-bred in Miss McCall, named for one of his daughters. Co-owned by Mitchell, the 4-year-old gray daughter of Lightnin N Thunder  , has raced only four times, winning her last three while improving in each effort. She is coming off a 4 3/4-length triumph in the City of Phoenix Stakes at Turf Paradise. Tyler Baze has the mount.

Mitchell also entered Sleep Tight, a Florida-bred 5-year-old, also by Exchange Rate, who makes her stakes debut.

U R All That I Am made her first eight starts in Northern California before being transferred to trainer Jerry Hollendorfer's Southern California stable late last year. A winner in six of her 10 career starts, the 4-year-old Valid Wager filly captured the Cat's Cradle Handicap for state-breds at Hollywood Park in November. Jockey Mike Smith has the call on the chestnut filly.

$200,000 Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Sprint (Race 6, 2:36 p.m.), 4 & Up, Bred in California or Florida, 6 Furlongs (Synthetic)
PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. U R All That I Am (CA), M E Smith, 120, J Hollendorfer
2. Emmy Darling (FL), A O Solis, 120, J W Sadler
3. Miss McCall (FL), T Baze, 120, M R Mitchell
4. Dotsy Jean (CA), V Espinoza, 122, M F Jones
5. Rate of Exchange (FL), J Rosario, 122, M D Wolfson
6. Sleep Tight (FL), J Lezcano, 122, M R Mitchell
7. Libor Lady (FL), G K Gomez, 122, M V Pino
8. Fearless Leader (FL), C Sutherland, 122, M Lerman
9. Via Veneto (FL), M Garcia, 120, B Baffert
10. Dubai Majesty (FL), J Theriot, 122, W B Calhoun
11. High Resolve (FL), R A Baze, 122, G Gilchrist
12. Quisisana (CA), R Bejarano, 122, M Puype
13. Magdalena's Chase (FL), J Talamo, 122, J W Sadler