DEL MAR, Calif. – Apart from one curious exception, Del Mar Oaks winners can come from anywhere – shippers from New York, invaders from Europe, and allowance and stakes runners from California. But when an eclectic, mostly local field of 3-year-old fillies run a mile and one-eighth on turf Saturday in the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Oaks, the likely favorite will aim for an unlikely feat. Anisette, impressive recent winner of the Grade 2 San Clemente at Del Mar, faces nine rivals and a historical challenge – San Clemente winners almost never repeat in the Del Mar Oaks. Anisette’s rivals include Window Shopping, a Grade 2 winner on dirt; Ruby Nell, an allowance turf winner who has won both her route attempts; Impact Warrior, runner-up against older in her U.S. debut; San Clemente third-place finisher And Tell Me Nolies; California-bred sprinters Big Pond and Absolutely Zero; longshots Paris Secret and Infinite Diamond; and East Coast shipper Be Your Best. :: DRF's 2023 Del Mar headquarters: Previews, past performances, picks, recaps, news, and more. Based on sharp wins in both U.S. starts, including the San Clemente, English import Anisette can defeat them all. Problem is, winning the Del Mar Oaks prep rarely leads to an Oaks victory. Since 2000, San Clemente winners are 1 for 20 in the Oaks, with two seconds and four thirds. Evening Jewel won both 2010 races as the favorite, but six other San Clemente winners who went favored in the Oaks all lost. “I don’t worry about things like that,” Anisette’s trainer Leonard Powell said, and he laughed adding, “I’m not going to skip the Oaks because of that. I just worry about my horse.” Handicappers can fret about Oaks misses by San Clemente winners, but the filly that Powell trains and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners owns is the real deal. Besides, Anisette already passed the visual test winning both California starts at one mile – a U.S. debut against older, followed by the San Clemente. Summer has been good for a filly who would be a proper Oaks favorite. “She’s thrived down here, I believe she’s improved,” Powell said at his Del Mar stable last week. “The key with her is she settles very well in her races. I don’t think the distance will be an issue.” Anisette was rank early in her U.S. debut at Santa Anita, settled down, and won going away. Next out in the San Clemente, she relaxed early, angled out late and won by 2 1/2 lengths for her third victory from five starts. Umberto Rispoli rides her back in the Oaks. The Oaks pace should be legitimate. Big Pond, Absolutely Zero, and Ruby Nell all have speed, which benefits come-from-behind fillies such as Anisette and Impact Warrior. Impact Warrior figures as a contender based on a promising runner-up U.S. debut for trainer Phil D’Amato. Owned by Martin Schwartz, Impact Warrior was nominated to the San Clemente, but did not make the field due to insufficient earnings. “We had to wait and run her in an allowance race a week later, she ran a big race against older horses,” D’Amato said. “This was the plan from the get-go, to ultimately run her in the Oaks.” In the allowance, Impact Warrior ran her final quarter-mile in a sharp 23.03. The effort gives her and jockey Kent Desormeaux a big look. The past two decades, four runners exited Del Mar allowance races to win the Oaks. D’Amato also starts late-runner Paris Secret, whose only U.S. win was the Grade 3 Providencia at Santa Anita, at the same mile and one-eighth distance as the Del Mar Oaks. Richard Mandella entered Grade 2 Summertime Oaks winner Window Shopping and allowance winner Ruby Nell. Window Shopping will race on turf for the first time since a better-than-looked sixth in her career debut last fall. “I think she’ll like the grass a lot,” Mandella said. “If you watch her first grass start, and see the trouble she’s in, she wanted to run good.” Window Shopping waited in traffic on the far turn, hit more heavy traffic in the lane, never got clear, but galloped out in front. Three subsequent starts on dirt include a Grade 2 route win and maiden sprint win. Window Shopping, 2 for 4, will be ridden by Hector Berrios. Ruby Nell, who has won both starts since switching to turf, will be ridden by Edwin Maldonado. Be Your Best, the only East Coast shipper, fits off her close runner-up finish two starts back in the Grade 2 Wonder Again at Belmont Park. Horacio De Paz trains Be Your Best, whose rider is Juan Hernandez. Since 2000, the Del Mar Oaks has been won seven times by fillies whose last start was in New York. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.