Grable Stakes

$100.00 For Fillies And Mares Three Years Old And Upward Foaled In CA
7 Furlongs – Dirt – Del Mar – November 8, 2026

The Grable Stakes has been on the HRP racing calendar since 2003. It may not be the biggest or most prestigious event but it is a staple of Southern California racing with a long tradition and twenty-three previous winners. There has been some rain in the area recently but the forecast for the race on Sunday looks to guarantee a fast track and this year’s edition of the race honoring “the girl with the million dollar legs” and the number one WWII pin-up girl has drawn a field of five California girls. They all got legs, let’s see who knows how to use em and let’s see if I know how to choose em. 

1. Chantilly Road (D J C Racing Stables, V. Espinoza)
She draws the rail and has been in the money fourteen times in twenty-one races so she usually runs her race and is in the mix. She is a stakes winner with one of her wins coming in The Gasparilla Stakes last year. There is graded stakes black type on the resume but she has taken a break from stakes competition in her recent starts which has yielded two seconds followed by two straight wins. Is cutting back to the distance that produced that one stakes win.

2. Voices Carry (Mo Mentum Farm, E. Maldonado) 
Three year old filly has passed through a few barns in her career. Five to be exact. She has made twelve starts but will make her stakes debut in the Grable Stakes. It will also be her first start for her newest barn as she was claimed by Mo Mentum Farm for $6.50 in her last race. She has exclusively been a sprinter but it will be the first time she has attempted the seven furlong distance. A lot of firsts for her in this race but she has consistently put it good efforts against lower levels.

3. Southern Silk (Night Rider Stables, M.E. Smith)
Southern Silk is a six time winner and that is nothing to sneeze at. One of those wins was in the AZ Juvenile Fillies Stakes two years ago. She was a $16.00 claim a year ago and has made four starts for Night Rider Stables since then. She has won her last two races and both of those were both wire to wire efforts. She will have some competition for the lead from Beyond The Lights should she want to employ that front running strategy in her effort for three in a row. 

4. Pinnacle Pride (Martyparty, K. Kimura)
Veteran would be a good adjective to describe this six year old homebred from Martyparty. She has gone to the gate nearly forty times and has come away with an impressive ten victories. She is a multiple stakes winner and has been close in almost all of her eight races this year with her one victory coming in an allowance race in September. Her last race was a good third in The Commonwealth Stakes so she is showing good recent form.

5. Beyond The Lights (Mo Mentum Farm, D. Van Dyke)
Beyond The Lights was claimed for $6.50 out of her last race which was a winning effort at Finger Lakes. It was her fourth win of the season giving her a fifty percent win rate this year. The new connections are encouraged enough by that record to give her a shot in her first ever stakes race. She shows early speed in her races which could give her some tactical options and the small field could help her get her first black type if not the outright win. 

Pressure is on. Five horses so it can’t be that hard to pick the winner. My twenty percent chance of being right is going to go to Chantilly Road on the rail. Good form and she is getting some class relief. Southern Silk is also is on a winning streak so take her to complete the exacta with Pinnacle Pride rounding out the trifecta for this one. 

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded