Warren's Showtime © Benoit Photo

Eight California-bred lassies will put on their sprinting shoes at Del Mar Sunday and see who’s quickest over seven panels in the seventh running of the Betty Grable Stakes.

Grable, of course, was the Hollywood actress who became the American G.I.s No. 1 pinup in World War II when a poster of her showing off her exceptional “gams” made the rounds during the conflict. Besides her acting and her legs, she also turned out to be a huge horse racing fans and she and her husband – bandleader Harry James – bred and raced some top horses in California. She was a regular at Del Mar in the ‘40s and ‘50s and that and her notoriety earned her the honor of a having the stakes named for her during the Bing Crosby Season

In any event, the filly with the best “gams” Sunday may win the Betty Grable prize, which is the winner’s share of a $100,000 purse, part of the Golden State stakes program that offers $4.6 million throughout the year to California-bred or sired runners.

A solid 3-year-old filly and a hard-knocking 5-year-old mare may draw the most attention in the Grable. The soph is the homebred Warren’s Showtime, who races for Benjamin and Sally Warren out of trainer Craig Lewis’ barn. The tough mare is Nick Alexander’s homebred Just Grazed Me, who takes her cues from conditioner Phil D’Amato.

Warren’s Showtime, who’ll be ridden by Juan Hernandez Sunday, has six wins and five thirds to her credit in 13 outings. She’s won more than $500,000 for her efforts, including five stakes, most recently in the Autumn Miss Stakes at Santa Anita on the turf on October 17. She’s a daughter of Clubhouse Ride, a multiple-stakes winner and now-rising stallion who was trained by Lewis.

The gray Just Grazed Me is by owner/breeder Alexander’s house sire Grazen and will be handled by Umberto Rispoli in the Grable. The veteran racer has won seven of 14 starts and nearly a half-million dollars. She most recently scored at Santa Anita in the California Distaff Handicap on October 10, her second win in a row in the five and one-half furlong turf sprint. Her last eight races have been on turf, but she’s run well on dirt, too, in the past as her 6  3-3-0 mark on the loam indicates. Two years ago she ran second in the Grable to the top filly Spiced Perfection.

Here’s the full field for the dash from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:

Brown or Halasz’s Sheza Girly Girl (Tiago Pereira, 15-1); Brown, Jr., Klein or Lebherz’s Smiling Shirlee (Mike Smith, 8-1); Goldgo Racing’s Miss Megan (Abel Cedillo, 12-1); Legacy Ranch’s Nardini (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 8-1); Twilight Racing or Taub’s Hotitude (Ricardo Gonzalez, 12-1); Warren’s Showtime; Rockingham Ranch’s Mo See Cal (Flavien Prat, 3-1), and Just Grazed Me.

Mo See Cal will have her backers in the feature even though the 5-year-old mare by Uncle Mo has been away from the races. In fact, her last start was in this very same race last November when she finished third. Trainer Peter Miller has brought his gray five-time winner back carefully and prepped her with a series of steady works for this return.

First post Sunday will be at 12:30 p.m.  The feature should go off at about 3:30 p.m.