The team for trainer Phil D’Amato includes a Grade 3 stakes winner, an import who ran in France’s top race for 2-year-old fillies in October, and another import who beat males three times in Britain in 2023. Zona Verde, Voodoo Magic, and Granny Budgie give D’Amato an extensive, and somewhat daunting, team for Sunday’s $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita. D’Amato needs it. The field of 11 includes the speedy Turfway Park stakes winner Julias Dream, and Antifona, a French import who had less-than-ideal trips in her first two starts in California. Zona Verde will draw ample attention for her win in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes at a mile on turf at Del Mar on Dec. 2. Zona Verde was later fourth after a poor start in the Blue Norther Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Dec. 29. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports With the $100,000 China Doll Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on March 10 as a goal, Zona Verde will start in a sprint for the first time in the United States on Super Bowl Sunday as part of a program that begins at 11 a.m. Pacific. “I tried to back off of her and wait for the China Doll, but she keeps training very forwardly,” D’Amato said. “It’s a race where if it’s too short and she comes running late, it’s okay. It can be a mini-prep for the China Doll. “It wouldn’t surprise if she came along and got a piece and maybe a little more.” Zona Verde must outfinish Voodoo Magic, who won her first two starts last year before losses in three stakes, including a troubled fourth by two lengths in the Group 3 Prix Six Perfections at Deauville last August, and a seventh in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac in Paris on Oct. 1. D’Amato envisions a stalking trip for Voodoo Magic, who will be ridden by Joel Rosario. “She’s trained very well,” he said. “I thought she merited putting Joel up. I think she’s tactical, probably a typical Euro. She can get covered up. She’s showed a turn of foot in the morning.” The Sweet Life Stakes is the stakes debut for Granny Budgie, who was third in a lucrative handicap for 2-year-old fillies at Doncaster Racecourse last September. “She can come running late,” D’Amato said. Antifona will have her third start in the United States in the Sweet Life after finishing fourth in the Durante and fifth in the Blue Norther. In the Blue Norther she raced in traffic in the stretch under jockey Hector Berrios. “She’s had two unlucky races,” trainer John Sadler said. “She was wide in the first race and the other day Berrios said he had no room down the lane.” Julias Dream, who drew the outside post, is expected to set the pace, and may be fast enough to lead throughout. Trained by Michael McCarthy, Julias Dream has won three of four starts, including an allowance race at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Nov. 10, and the Gowell Stakes at six furlongs on the synthetic track at Turfway Park on Dec. 23. Julias Dream led or disputed the pace in both of those wins. “She’s naturally quick,” McCarthy said. “I imagine she’ll put herself in a good spot.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.