by Jeff Apel

Trainer John Sadler will try to build on his recent success in stakes races with a victory in the $400,000 John C. Mabee Handicap (G1) on Sunday at Del Mar with Grade 2 winner Black Mamba (NZ).

The winner of the 1 1/8-mile turf race for fillies and mares earns an automatic starting spot in the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) on October 24 at Santa Anita Park as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series.

Sadler has posted 11 stakes wins in 2008, six of which were earned in graded stakes. He swept the top two spots in the Cougar II Handicap on Wednesday at Del Mar with stablemates Zappa and Tissy Fit.

Seven of Sadler’s stakes wins this year took place in the previous five weeks, including a victory by Black Mamba in the Beverly Hills Handicap (G2) in the mare’s most recent start on June 29 at Hollywood Park.
 
Double Down Stables’s Black Mamba opened her five-year-old season with a runner-up finish in the Buena Vista Handicap (G2) on February 18 at Santa Anita Park. The Black Minnaloushe mare finished second, a nose behind Mabee participant Foxysox (GB), in the Santa Barbara Handicap (G2) on April 19 at the Arcadia, California, track prior to earning her first stakes win in the Beverly Hills.

Foxysox enters off a sixth-place finish in the Beverly Hills. Trained by Carla Gaines for owner Warren Williamson, the Foxhound mare opened her season with consecutive third-place finishes at Santa Anita in the Paseana Handicap on January 14 and the Wishing Well II Handicap on February 10.

The Mabee drew a field of eight that also includes Grade 2 winner Passified and Grade 2-placed stakes winner Solva (GB).

Solva finished second, 1 1/4 lengths behind Black Mamba, in the Beverly Hills for trainer Ben Cecil and owner Usk Valley Stud. Passified won the Redondo Beach Stakes on June 7 at Hollywood for trainer Jim Cassidy and owner Forging Oaks Farm.

Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor

The field, in post-position order, with (sire), jockey, weight, and trainer:

1. Black Mamba [NZ] (Black Minnaloushe), Garrett Gomez, 119, John Sadler;

2. Solva [GB] (Singspiel [Ire]), Aaron Gryder, 114, Ben Cecil;

3. Green Lyons [Ire] (Green Desert), David Flores, 113, Neil Drysdale;

4. Ransom Captive (Red Ransom), Victor Espinoza, 113, Jerry Hollendorfer;

5. Foxysox [GB] (Foxhound), Rafael Bejarano, 117, Carla Gaines;

6. Passified [GB] (Compton Place [GB]), Mike Smith, 116, James Cassidy;

7. Placid Lake (Greenwood Lake), Joel Rosario, 113, Vladimir Cerin; and

8. I Can See (Flying Chevron), Corey Nakatani, 113, Steve Knapp.