By Jarrod Horak
In this horse racing handicapping video, I analyze the Grade 2, $200,000 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos Race Course using Today’s Racing Digest past performances.
Starlet field: 1 – Himika (5-2), 2 – Cashed (8-1), 3 – Consequent (3-1), 4 – Cosmic Heat (8-1), 5 – Jewlz (20-1), 6 – Nimah (6-5).
This race is a Kentucky Oaks 2026 points race. The Starlet (race 8) will be held at Los Alamitos Race Course on Saturday, December 6, 2025.
Starlet Analysis
Himika easily won her first two dirt sprints as the favorite under Juan Hernandez including the Sorrento. She showed distance limitations in the Del Mar Debutante and Oak Leaf, and Bob Baffert’s $900k Curlin filly turned back and easily handled Revera as the favorite in the Anoakia on Oct. 19. Revera turned the tables on her in the Desi Arnaz at seven panels last time. Hernandez abandons and she should be forwardly placed from the inside post under Tyler Baze.
Cashed fired trifecta shots in all five starts. She pressed and graduated by 2 1/4 lengths as the favorite at six furlongs on Sept. 27 and she set the pace and held the place at seven panels in the Golden State Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 31. She removes blinkers and stretches out.
Consequent was the favorite in her flat mile bow at Del Mar and she rallied from an outer post to score by a half-length under Juan Hernandez. Bob Baffert’s Into Mischief will be ridden by Kazushi Kimura this time and she might run faster second time out.
Cosmic Heat rallied to win her maiden optional-claiming dirt sprint bow and the runner-up was a next-out winner. She rallied for the show in the Desi Arnaz last time and Doug O’Neill’s Maxfield filly stretches out after two sprints.
Jewlz picked up her first win in her 5th start and that victory was a flat mile maiden claiming event at Dl Mar on Nov. 22. This is a much tougher spot and she should impact the pace.
Nimah was the strong favorite in her 6.5f bow and she set a pressure pace and won by 1 3/4 lengths, and it was 10 lengths back to the show finisher. Juan Hernandez sticks with Bob Baffert’s $550k Gun Runner filly and she is bred to handle two turns. Baffert has won this race 11 times including 8 straight victories from 2017-24, and Hernandez guided home three of his winners in 2021, 2023, and 2024.
Starlet Video
Starlet Stakes Overview – Los Alamitos, December 6
- Race: Starlet Stakes (G2)
- Track: Los Alamitos Race Course
- Conditions: 2-year-old fillies, 1 1/16 miles on the main track
- Purse: $200,000
- Oaks Trail: Kentucky Oaks 2026 points race
Bob Baffert absolutely owns this race. He’s won the Starlet 11 times, including every running from 2017 through 2024. Juan Hernandez has been aboard several of those winners, and he’s back again with another live Baffert filly.
In a short field like this, pace and intent matter more than hype. Jared leans heavily on Today’s Racing Digest final time ratings and pace ratings to separate the real contenders from the dressed-up pretenders.
Field Snapshot & Handicapping Takeaways
Jared goes through the field from last to first. Here’s the condensed version of his opinions, based on Today’s Racing Digest numbers and form patterns:
5 – Jewlz
A maiden-claiming graduate stepping way up in class after a nose win for $32k at Del Mar. Yes, she earned an improved Digest final time rating and sat a very soft pace, but now she has to run a whole lot faster against real graded-stakes fillies. Forward style helps, but she looks like the outsider on pure class and figures.
Bottom line: Needs a total collapse or a massive jump forward. Not the filly you want to hang your hat on.
2 – Cashed
California-bred filly for Doug O’Neill removing blinkers and stretching out. She’s got some speed and a legit pace rating from the Golden State Juvenile Fillies, where she set a strong pace and held second. Her Digest final time ratings are moving in the right direction, but this is tougher company and other fillies in here can go just as fast – or faster – early.
Bottom line: Figures say she’ll be prominent early, but outlasting the better-bred, higher-ceiling fillies around two turns is a question.
1 – Himika
Speedy stakes winner cutting back earlier in the campaign, now stretching out again. She’s already run six times as a 2-year-old, with her best work at shorter trips (five and six furlongs) where she won by open lengths. When they pushed her out to seven furlongs and then a mile and a sixteenth in graded stakes, she folded and was beaten badly.
Her Today’s Racing Digest final time pattern shows some big efforts sprinkled with clunkers when the distances go up. She’s fast enough on numbers, but we’ve seen her stub her toe more than once going longer.
Bottom line: Classy and quick, but distance is a real concern. Needs to prove she can finish at this trip.
4 – Cosmic Heat
Now with Doug O’Neill after starting with Peter Eurton. She’s shown a solid off-the-pace style in sprints and has already won from off the pace. Her Digest final time ratings (105, then 110) suggest she’s heading the right way and might actually appreciate the stretch-out based on running style.
The question is class. She’s looked good in allowance and stakes company, but the Starlet is a different neighborhood, especially with a loaded Baffert trio around her.
Bottom line: Logical board hitter if the pace is honest. Winning might be a reach, but she fits in exotics if she handles two turns.
3 – Consequent
Second Baffert filly, and she’s already proven around two turns with a debut win going a mile at Del Mar. She sat off the pace and finished like a pro, earning a solid 105 final time rating with room to move forward. The Into Mischief / Uncle Mo pedigree screams “more distance, more upside.”
Juan Hernandez jumps off to ride the other Baffert filly, which is interesting, but not automatically a negative. Consequent still looks like a filly with plenty of development in front of her.
Bottom line: Legit win candidate with upside and the right profile for this race. Very strong alternative if you want to fade the favorite on price.
6 – Nimah (Top Pick)
This is the one Jarrod lands on. The $550,000 Gun Runner filly out of a mare by A.P. Indy has all the pedigree you want for a mile and a sixteenth and beyond. In her debut at Del Mar, she showed exactly the kind of fight you want to see: inside of a four-horse pace battle, put a couple rivals away, then turned back the second choice who came at her hard in the lane.
She earned a 108 final time rating and a strong 131 pace rating in that race – serious numbers for a debuting 2-year-old filly. With that kind of early speed, outside post, and Hernandez choosing her over the other Baffert runners, the intent is pretty obvious.
Bottom line: Favorite for a reason. If she handles the added ground and moves forward second out, she’s the most likely winner.
How Today’s Racing Digest Tools Power This Analysis
All of Jared’s opinions in the video are built off Today’s Racing Digest past performances, including:
- Final Time Ratings – Normalized figures that let you compare races across distances and tracks without guessing.
- Pace Ratings – Show how fast a race really was early, so you can tell who benefited from a soft setup and who survived a brutal pace.
- Form Patterns – You can see when a filly is cycling up to a peak effort or regressing off a big race.
If you’re playing the Starlet Stakes or the full Los Alamitos card, you don’t need to handicap blind. You can grab:
- Past performances for Los Alamitos (including the Starlet Stakes)
- Full card analysis from Today’s Racing Digest handicappers
- Bonus stakes coverage from Aqueduct, Gulfstream, and Santa Anita on key Saturdays
Make the Most of Starlet Stakes Day
Jared’s video gives you the roadmap for how he sees the race shaping up. If you want to take it further:
- Use Today’s Racing Digest Complete Digest to test his opinion against your own.
- Compare pace scenarios: what happens if more than one filly sends hard? Who benefits if they back it down early?
- Build tickets around your opinion on Nema vs. Consequent – and where you think the class line really is for Cosmic Heat, Hima, and the others.
If you’re serious about the Oaks trail and winter racing, don’t just rely on gut feel and replay memory. Get the data, get the patterns, and put yourself in the best position to get paid.
Then hit play on the video, follow along with the Digest PPs in front of you, and line up your bets for Starlet Stakes day.