Santa Monica Stakes (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
SA- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
Seven Furlongs on the Dirt
February 13, 2021
This Saturday at SA, older fillies and mares will have their chances to get a Grade 2 victory as the 17th running of the Santa Monica goes to post. This is a seven furlong race that has been won in the past by great horses such as Blonde Dynamite and Steel Reward. The race was won last year by Mb Stables and First Impression, a horse that continued to have a successful season, and ended up finishing third in the BC a few months ago. She is still active and could have been competitive here again, but she did just race at GP a couple weeks ago. Mb is the only trainer that has won this race twice. For this edition, we have a field of eight, so let’s take a look!
#1- Roo (Our Athletes, ridden by Ru Gonzalez)- There is no denying that Roo has had a productive career, as she has never failed to get a piece of the purse for her trainer. Towards the end of last year, she began to get her chance at the stake level, and then the graded level and she continued to run well. In November, she won the $125.000 Fort Springs, and a month later was third in the Grade 1 La Brea over this race track. She is answering the call, no matter what, so I don’t think that would stop here.
#2- Z Is For Zero (First Street Stables, ridden by G Franco)- Early in 2020, Z Is For Zero put together a four race winning streak, all of which were stakes, highlighted by the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Though the streak stopped, she continued racing very well and was able to be a part of the BC Fillies and Mares Sprint. However, in that, she would only finish in the middle of the field. While that can be forgiven, she pulled a no show in the La Brea a month later, only running seventh. Needs to reverse this trend now, before it gets worse.
#3- Orange Beach (Mb Stables, ridden by F Prat)- The trainer looks for his third win the Santa Monica, and will cut back on Orange Beach’s distance just a little bit as he does so. Since acquiring her in private sales about two years ago, Mb has run Orange Beach at 8 or 9 furlongs (or distances between), and picked up a pair of $100.000 ungraded stake wins. Now, she will run seven, so it is not really a big difference and if you consider her running style of being near the front, the five year old mare probably would not even notice.
#4- Beldame (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by B Blanc)- Good news and bad news for this one. First, since May 2020, Beldame has rotated wins and non-wins over eight starts. The bad news is that she won her last start. Over that same period, she is hitting the board fairly routinely and won an optional claimer at this distance right here in September. Her recent win was the Grade 3 Rampart at GP, where she came off the pace to win at a mile. Could break this pattern and pick up the win here, and I predict that she will be within a length if she doesn’t.
#5- On The Flop (Team 7 Illusions, ridden by T C Baze)- The five year old mare by Gsin has won nine times over her 23 race career but will have to run here without the services of J Lezcano. Since July 2019, Lezcano has been aboard in every race but two, the type of run that you don’t see much of here. She won thrice last year, and one of them was a graded win as she captured the Grade 2 PID Masters in late September, topping 2020 Santa Monica winner, First Impression, in the process.
#6- Zero Twist (John Henry, ridden by M E Smith)- Like her fellow Zero, Zero Twist comes into this race off of the La Brea here late in December. Unfortunately for both of them, their finishes were 7th and 8th. Zero Twist seemed as though she was going into that race pretty strong, after winning the Bessarabian at WO, but her history shows that she can be inconsistent at times. If the Bessarabian form is duplicated, she probably would win this race, but can we trust her to do that?
#7- Silver Jazzmin (The Sidley Stud, ridden by A Centeno)- This filly was very successful at FON in 2020, with three wins coming here, and her six career wins have come at FON, TUP, and FP. In the middle of May, The Sidley Stud decided that Silver Jazzmin was going to race against stronger, and sent her to SA for the Grade 3 Desert Stormer. She was third that day, and the fair tracks became a distant memory. She’s been good, but is still looking for the big result at this level. Last ran three weeks ago, but that may be her secret as the Desert Stormer was on two weeks rest.
#8- Hawaiian Crusader (Fractious, ridden by U Rispoli)- Finally, we get to our fourth horse in this field that comes out of the La Brea the day after Christmas, and she was able to cash a fourth place check in it. It capped off a strong season which saw her win the Grade 1 Test at SAR, and be able to participate in the BC FIllies and Mares Sprint. Hasn’t won since the Test, but Fractious has been patient with her, too.
Prediction: 1-4-6-8
— NS
Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES
