ARCADIA, Calif. – A class drop and distance cutback benefit three-time stakes winner Medoro, favored to win the Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes on Sunday, closing day of the Santa Anita autumn meet. Twelve entered the Autumn Miss, a turf mile for 3-year-old fillies that includes Medoro’s nemesis Zona Verde and rapidly improving upset candidate Tahini. Closing weekend could be big for Medoro’s trainer, Peter Eurton, who entered Twilight Derby favorite Stay Hot on Saturday. Stay Hot is a laid-back late-runner, unlike his stablemate. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. “Medoro’s a different cat altogether,” Eurton said. “She needs no enthusiasm to go, I’m glad we’re shortening up with her. She overdoes things in the morning. I have to figure how to slow her down.” Since her runner-up finish Aug. 17 in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks at 1 1/8 miles, Medoro posted a series of bullet works. Though she is fast in works, she rations her speed in races. She won her first four starts including three turf stakes at Santa Anita. Antonio Fresu rides Medoro for owners Lee and Susan Searing. Medoro holds a 3 to 1 head-to-head advantage over Zona Verde. But while Medoro has not raced in more than two months, Zona Verde will make her second start in four weeks and try for better luck. Zona Verde ran Sept. 28 in the Unzip Me Stakes on the hill. But she threw her head when the gates opened, broke last, and finished fifth in a race won by the pacesetter. Third in the Del Mar Oaks, Zona Verde returns to two turns Sunday. Juan Hernandez rides for trainer Phil D’Amato, who entered closing weekend with a meet-leading 13 wins. But no trainer has been hotter this fall than George Papaprodromou, trainer of last-out allowance winner Tahini. Papaprodomou entered the weekend 12 for 31 (38 percent). “I just run them where they belong, and they all got good at the same time,” Papaprodromou said. Those include Tahini, who enters the Autumn Miss on a two-race streak. After losing her first six starts, the light bulb went on this summer. She won a maiden turf sprint, followed by an allowance turf route. “She’s a different filly now, she’s matured as we go,” Papaprodromou said. “She’s getting, smarter, better.” Tahini is moving up in class Saturday, but her 23.07 final quarter last out suggests she might fit with stakes fillies. Papaprodromou also starts Sneaker, who won a similar turf mile allowance at Santa Anita. Kent Desormeaux rides Tahini; Victor Espinoza rides Sneaker. Other contenders in the Autumn Miss include comebacker Asean, making her first start since finishing 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, and Grade 3 winner Circle of Trust. Asean and Circle of Trust give D’Amato three of the 12 entrants. ◗ Forbidden Kingdom, pre-entered in the BC Turf Sprint, runs six furlongs on turf against Unconquerable Keen in a Sunday allowance, race 3. Race 6 marks the debut of the Bob Baffert-trained 2-year-old filly Cipriani, who in her most recent work went better than stakes-winning stablemate Getaway Car. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.