Santa Maria Stakes (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
SA- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
April 19, 2025

A small field of five older fillies and mares will be heading to the starting gate for the 20th running of the Santa Maria Stakes. This is a Grade 2, on the main track, and a little over a mile in length. Looking back, the first three editions of the race saw it as a Grade 1, and it would be downgraded officially in 2011. After that year, the purse saw a slight increase to $200.000, and that’s where it has been ever since. The race has seen a pair of two-time winners, with Shake It Off doing so in 2017 and 2018, then Drink Me Pretty getting her wins in 2021 and 2023. Last year’s was Appreciate, for Mo Mentum Farm. She’d get one more big win later in the year and has since been retired. Here’s a look at our five participants:

1- Jinxed Artist (South Beach Racing, ridden by V Espinoza)- Had a strong career with Smokey Stover, winning 10 of 24 races with him, which includes a win in the Grade 1 Spinster and an appearance in the BC Distaff. South Beach would win the shake in that stable’s dispersal and ran her off a five-month layoff in February in the Grade 3 Royal Delta at GP. Finished in the middle of the field there, and we’ll see if she can do better here. I am concerned about the slowdown in her mile works enough to the point where I can’t pick her. Hopefully, I am wrong.

2- In Progress (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by K Kimura)- For the first time in over a year, In Progress will be taking part in a graded race. Other than running second in the RP Oaks in 2023, her graded performances were not good, but maybe she is a new horse now. She’s won her last two, including the $125.000 Wintergreen at TP last time out. Speed figures are improving, so I do think she is beginning to show the potential that the trainer was hoping she’d display early in her career. Deserves this chance to go graded after that Wintergreen performance.

3- Spring Street (High Voltage, ridden by D Van Dyke)- This one has spent the majority of her career running seven furlongs, and her performance in those races is very hit and miss. For every race like her Grade 3 Bessarabian win in November or her Grade 3 Vagrancy Handicap last many that she won, it seems like she has one or two duds to go with it. For her last race, the trainer sent her over a mile for the first time since the Acorn (Grade 1) in 2023, and she was a strong second in the $250.000 Latonia Stakes from TP. Now, can we trust her to follow that up? I probably shouldn’t, but I have a good feeling about her coming into this.

4- Balius (Threshold, ridden by Mar Garcia)- Following a win in the Grade 3 Maple Leaf Stakes in November, Balius looked very promising for the Royal Delta two months ago at GP, and she was made the post time favorite. She’d leave a lot of people disappointed that day as she tired out to an eighth-place finish. This is her first race since then, and the layoff will not be as long, but that also means the Maple Leaf is now five months ago. Can she bring back that version of herself, and get redemption from the Royal Delta? I would love to see a more recent mile work to get confidence, but she only three public works since January.

5- Storming Sunset (Rock Creek, ridden by J Valdivia Jr)- Taking the final spot in the starting gate is a filly that was claimed for just $8.000 last April. In the year that has gone by since then, Storming Sunset has been given bigger opportunities. Okay, maybe the Grade 1 Hirsch was a little much for her in August, but since that race, she was a good looking (5-1-3-1) record in mid-level allowances or optional claimers. So, why not see if she can handle a graded field again, but one that is not quite the Hirsch. I look for her to run well here.

Prediction: 3-5-4-2

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES