Wishing Well Stakes
$100.000 For Fillies And Mares Four Years Old And Upward
6 Furlongs – Turf
Santa Anita Park – February 21, 2026

With the 2024 and 2025 Wishing Well winner, Always Condottieri, retired and busy being a mama, this year’s edition has drawn a small field of five to crown her successor. Three out of the five fillies and mares in the race came to the entry box through Maxmillion Farm’s barn so they would appear favored to win it as a team just on the numbers but we know racing has no guarantees so we need to do our due diligence and take a closer look at each of the five who want to add a stakes win at the legendary Great Race Place to their resume.

1. Sweet Dilemma (Maxmillion Farm/E. Maldonado) Her last start was a second-place finish in the G3 La Cienegas Stakes at Santa Anita. She missed winning the G2 Honorable Miss Handicap at the prestigious Saratoga meet last summer. Despite not being able to lay claim to stakes winner status she has some solid black type on her resume. She also has speed and the rail and has to be considered a serious threat.

2. Elegance Of Light (Maxmillion Farm/L. Dettori) The second entry in the Maxmillion brigade was a $100.000 private purchase last May. She shares a similar profile to her stablemate on the rail in that she is not a stakes winner but has some graded black type to recommend her. She was second in the G2 Valley View at Keeneland and third in the G3 Pebbles last year. Unlike Sweet Dilemma who gained her graded placings in turf sprints, Elegance Of Light earned hers in mile turf events. Was she entered here to fill the field? I don’t think you can say that casually with the accomplishments on her resume. She has credentials and has shown some early foot so the cut back may be just what she needs to get that elusive stakes diploma. 

3. Sandlot (Threshold/V. Espinoza) One of two independent entries. She was claimed for $30.000 in late January and is being brought back three weeks later to make her first start for the Threshold barn and make her stakes debut at the same time. She is a lightly raced four-year-old who has won three of her six career starts and has two wins from three starts on grass. She has won three of her last four races and has a two-race winning streak having won a free track allowance by open lengths and her last start when she was claimed at Laurel. She is being given a big class test today, but she has a winning record and comes up against a small field so conditions are right for her to roll the dice.

4. Hot Pants (Maxmillion Farm/E. Jaramillo) The third entry for Maxmillion Farm and she continues the theme we see with her barn sisters. She is graded stakes placed but not a stakes winner. She boasts a second-place finish in the G3 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita last June. She only missed winning the Summertime by a half of a length, but her two subsequent graded starts did not go nearly as well, and she has regrouped since then with two allowance starts but doesn’t really seem to have regained that form that was so promising. Her last start was her seasonal debut where she finished a disappointing fourth but that was a mile on dirt. Her prior start was a strong turf sprint and that is what she is being asked to do here. Can’t throw her out but I rate her slightly below her stablemates.

5. Ice Girl (Spb Racing/A. Fresu) The only stakes winner in the field and the biggest earner with $218.130 banked from seventeen lifetime races. She was claimed for $7.000 last October and rewarded her new barn with two straight appearances in the winner’s circle including her winning The Suwannee River at Gulfstream Park in December. She tried to follow that up and take the logical next step in the G3 Megahertz at Santa Anita three weeks ago but came home eighth and last in that one. She cuts back from two route starts and goes back to sprinting which has been her forte throughout her career and seems to be where she is more comfortable. She has won five of eight lifetime turf races and is versatile enough to employ any tactic from her outside draw. 

On the surface it would appear Maxmillion Farm has the numbers to take this, but the two challenging have points to recommend them. Having said that, I do have to go with one of the stablemates to take their first stakes win and Sweet Dilemma on the rail looks the strongest to me and is my pick to hit the wire first. I will go outside of the Max army to make Ice Girl my second choice with a Cinderella pick for Sandlot to go from free track claimer to stakes placed at Santa Anita and take third.

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded