Santa Maria Stakes – GIII
$100.00 For Fillies And Mares Four Years Old And Upward
1 1/16 Miles – Dirt
Santa Anita Park – April 19, 2026

Even though the Santa Maria has gone from a GI to a GIII and is offering a $100.00 purse which is down from its highest level of $300.00, it still managed to draw a field of eleven fillies and mares for the 2026 edition. All eleven will carry the same 123 points so no one has to bear the weight penalty which would have been assigned had anyone in the field been victorious in a graded race within the last three months. There is zero chance of any rain at Santa Anita on Sunday, so a fast track is assured.

1. Spelkenfelter Twin (Paradise Stable/K.J. Desormeaux) Seven-year-old mare has won eight of her thirty-six lifetime starts. Those eight wins have yielded total career earnings of $49.63. She has made seven previous stakes starts from free tracks to a G3 and she has yet to hit the board. Asking a lot. 

2. Wavy Girl (Saratoga Stud/J.J. Hernandez) In her five seasons of racing she has started thirty times and has come home a winner in one third of those. She has multiple G1 wins to her credit and has banked $2,325.20. She is obviously an elite mare and would normally be considered a contender. However, she has failed to hit the board in her last seven starts. Needs to show a reversal of form in her third start of the year. 

3. Maiden Jane (Winning Link Stables/H.I. Berrios) She has won six races in a row and has not been worse than second in her last ten starts. She was claimed for $32.00 at the beginning of March and the new barn gives her an immediate test here with her first stakes attempt of any kind. Have to consider her a dark horse contender just on her record and competitiveness.

4. Present Tense (Mb Stables/F. Geroux) The richest mare in the field with career earnings of over $4,000.00. Her two races this year would seem to indicate that at seven years old she may have lost a step. She finished tenth in a G3 to open her season and was beaten in an allowance race at Tampa in her last start. Wouldn’t be a complete shock if a mare of her caliber turns in a winning race but have to be suspect off current form.

5. Memorabilia (TwinTowerRacing/U. Rispoli) Lightly raced four year old who has won two of her eleven races. Came out of the Smokey fire sale and was purchased for $1.00 last January. She has won two of nine races for TwinTowersRacing since the sale – a MSW at Balterra and an overnight at Parx. Her last two races were her first stakes attempts and she has yet to make her presence felt at this level.  

6. Alacena (D J C Racing Stables/K. Kimura) A very consistent five-year-old mare who usually hits the board except has not shown she can do it in stakes company. She has two stakes attempts on her resume. She finished third in a small unlisted stakes at Parx and then moved up to the G3 Bayakoa when she ran an even fifth. She gets another shot again after a second-place tuneup in a Santa Anita allowance. 

7. Soliloquy Sunset (Nakamura Stables/A. Fresu) She won three G1s to finish out her rookie season and was named the two-year-old filly champ that year. She carried her good form into her three-year-old season, adding another G1 when she took the Alabama at Saratoga last summer. Her four-year-old season shows two races, and she did not show any of her old form or back class in either of them. She is a big question mark at to current form and interest, but recent works give hope. 

8. No Ones Comparing (Mb Stables/E. Jaramilo) Mb Stables homebred four-year-old filly has been in the money in twelve of fourteen races and became a grade one winner when she finished first in last year’s $1,000.00 Cotillion Stakes at Parx. She had two tuneups this season before she made her first stakes attempt of 2026 in her last start when she led early in the G2 Azeri at Oaklawn Park before fading to fourth. She is one of many in this field with talent and impressive wins in her past whose current form might be a little suspect. 

9. Sprint Storm (Nakamura Stables/V. Del-Cid) She is a stakes winner who has been consistently competitive at the graded stakes level without ever having had her nose in front at the wire in one of those. She finished third ahead of No Ones Comparing in the G2 Azeri two starts back and she came back to win a tuneup allowance race at Gulfstream after that in late March. She makes her fifth start of the year having shown consistent good form thus far.

10. Lifes Good (D J C Racing Stables/M.E. Smith) Won the Monomoy Girl at Churchill Downs last June and is a neck away from being a graded stakes winner having just missed winning the G2 Starlet as a two-year-old. Lifes Good is good and she is also consistent but has yet to break through with a big win. Her works are fast and this could be her day although the outside draw doesn’t add to her chances given her seeming penchant for wanting to run midpack. 

11. Marina (The Sidley Stud/E. Maldonado) She is a multiple stakes winner with a couple of WV bred race wins to her credit. Marina fell a nose short in the same G2 Starlet where Lifes Good came up a neck short, so she has the talent to be a threat at this level. The negatives are that she draws post eleven against a tough field and she is another who has yet to show her best form this season. 

This is a tough one. You have some in this field who you would think would be obvious contenders and picks, but no one seems to be at the top of their game right now. Spirit Storm seems sharp and has shown her class before so she will be my top pick. Maiden Jane looks like an intriguing longshot so use her for second with Lifes Good and No Ones Comparing following in third and fourth. 

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES