Pushiness © Benoit Photo

Seven California-bred fillies and mares will greet the starter at Del Mar Sunday in the 29th edition of the $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes, a seven furlong spin that will be the featured attraction on a nine-race program.

The race is one of the 35 Cal-bred tests that are part of the Golden State Stakes Series that are run up and down the state over the course of the year. Ten of those races are run at Del Mar, eight during its summer session and two more during the fall Bing Crosby Season.

The Betty Grable was previously known as the Cat’s Cradle Stakes when it was run at the late, great Hollywood Park. But for the past 10 years it has been rebirthed at the shore oval and now named for the movie queen and pin-up star who was a regular at the track during the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s, notably with her husband nearby, he being the famous band leader and trumpet player Harry James.

Heading the cast for this year’s running of the sprint is Repole Stable’s Pushiness, a fast daughter of Kantharos who has won four of her seven lifetime starts, including the Fleet Treat Stakes locally this past July.

The bay 3-year-old will be handled by her regular guy – Umberto Rispoli – and will break from Post 4 in the backside chute at the track. She’s trained by youthful veteran Mike McCarthy.

The chief threat to the top one appears to be Abrams, Dutko or Paran’s Big Summer, a 6-year-old mare by Mr. Big who is trained by Carla Gaines and will be ridden by Hector Berrios.

Big Summer has been to the post 19 times and shows a steady mark of five victories and eight second-place finishes. She’s managed to bank more than $450,000 and her steady style should play well in the Betty Grable lineup.

Here’s the full field for the race in post position order with riders and morning line odds:  BG Stables or Royalty Stable’s Roberta’s Love (Antonio Fresu, 15-1); Jaime Renella’s Chimosa (Tiago Pereira, 4-1); Big Summer (2-1); Pushiness (8/5);  Bisharat or Khoury’s Safa (Kazushi Kimura, 9/2); Paula Capestro’s Back On Track (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 20-1), and GMT Racing Stables’ Irish Wahine (Kyle Frey, 15-1).

The Betty Grable will be Race 8 on the program with an approximate post time of 4 p.m. First post for all days during the season is 12:30 p.m.