DEL MAR, Calif. (July 21, 2024) – Multiple stakes winner Grand Slam Smile can extend her domination of the division in Friday’s $150,000 Fleet Treat Stakes for Golden State Series-eligible 3-year-old fillies at Del Mar, one of five Cal-bred races on the card with full fields.
Based at Pleasanton in Northern California, nearly 400 miles from Del Mar, stakes winner Grand Slam Smile shipped in last week. She has a score to settle with Pushiness. Based on decisive recent stakes wins, Grand Slam Mile is up to the task.
Grand Slam Smile is by Smiling Tiger, out of the Grand Slam mare Royal Grand Slam, was bred by owners Mr. & Mrs. Larry Williams and is trained by Steven Specht. She has five wins in seven starts, earnings of $404,900 and is coming off back-to-back stakes wins.
The chink in her armor, if it can be called that, is not evident in her past performances. She fires every start.
“She’s one that will lay it down,” Specht said. “She’s competitive, she never throws in the towel.”
But there is a dark side to Grand Slam Smile, whose pre-race shenanigans can create as much drama as the race. Although she minds her manners in the morning, the afternoon can be a different story. It happened prior to her most recent start racing a mile and a sixteenth in the Melair Stakes at Santa Anita. She initially refused to be saddled.
“In the paddock, she gets a little jacked up,” Specht acknowledged. “It was a mess last time. Her issue is putting that saddle on her. She was running over the top of the groom; she went from one end of the paddock to the other.”
Grand Slam Smile’s misbehavior was not an isolated incident, nor did it affect her performance. She won the Melair by more than four lengths and shortens to one turn Friday in the seven-furlong Fleet Treat for Cal-bred 3-year-old fillies. Her rivals include stakes winners Roberta’s Love and Pushiness, who defeated Grand Slam Smile last summer in a Cal-bred 2-year-old stakes at Del Mar.
“She’s come a long way from what she used to be,” Specht said. “As far as training, she’s good. She was a handful when they sent her in [last year]. You couldn’t get a shank on her. You’d go in the stall and she would run to the back and then look like she was going to run over the top [of you]. She was just really leery of people.”
But Grand Slam Smile could always run, and she has mellowed some. She returns Friday from a two-month break and Specht pronounced her fit for the taxing seven-furlong distance.
“I’ve laid it to her,” he said. “I worked her a mile [at Pleasanton], and a couple three-quarters, and made her huff and puff. She’s fit.”
Regular rider Frank Alvarado worked Grand Slam Smile five furlongs early Saturday at Del Mar and he rides her Friday from post 7. A pace-presser who can rally, versatile Grand Slam Smile has earned $404,900 and enters the Fleet Treat as the best horse.
The main rivals for Grand Slam Smile are Roberta’s Love to her inside, and Pushiness two stalls to her outside.
Roberta’s Love, who won the Evening Jewel Stakes two back at Santa Anita, is better than she showed last out when she finished a distant sixth behind Grand Slam Smile in the Melair. Hector Palma, trainer of Roberta’s Love, noted that front-runner Roberta’s Love never had a chance.
Stretching out for the first time, she broke outward, lost position, raced at the back of the field and sputtered. “He tried to rate her and put her behind horses, and she had never been behind horses,” Palma said. “The race was over. Throw it out.”
Roberta’s Love is by Collected, out of the Broken Vow mare West Coast Gal, was bred by Richard Barton Enterprises and is owned by BG Stables and Royalty Stable. The stakes winner has two wins in four starts and earnings of $122,300.
Juan Hernandez is back aboard Roberta’s Love on Friday, while opening-week leading rider Umberto Rispoli rides Pushiness, whose last-start 83 Beyer tops the Fleet Treat field. Winner of the CTBA Stakes last summer over a troubled Grand Slam Smile, Pushiness will enter off a highly rated runner-up comeback against older allowance fillies and mares at Los Alamitos.
Michael McCarthy trains Pushiness, who looks like the speed of the speed. Pushiness, 2 for 4, has set the pace in all of her races.
Pushiness is by Kantharos, out of the Empire Maker mare Imperial Pippin, was bred by Richard Barton Enterprises and is owned by Repole Stable. The stakes winner has two wins in four starts, earnings of $119,790 and is coming off a second in a July 4 optional claimer.
Safa ranks a notch below, but the late-runner is remarkably consistent. Trained by Gary Stute and ridden by Tiago Pereira, Safa has two wins and five seconds from seven starts this year, including runner-up finishes to Fleet Treat rivals Grand Slam Smile, Roberta’s Love, and Prancingthruparis.
CTBA January Sale graduate Safa is by Grazen, out of the Harlan’s Holiday mare Hadarra, was bred by Derek Lawson and is owned by Bisharat, Souheil and Khoury, Khalil . The $23,000 purchase at the CTBA January Sale has two wins in 12 starts, earnings of $206,060 and is coming off a June 14 optional claiming win.
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The Fleet Treat, in which favorites are 11 for 24 since 2000, is race 7 on the twilight card. First post is 4 p.m.
Loretta Lynn is by Grazen, out of the Tribal Rules mare Sunday Rules, was bred by owner Nick Alexander and is trained by Phil D’Amato. She has one win in four starts, earnings of $72,100 and is coming off a third in the May 25 Melair.
Prancingthruparis is by Sir Prancealot, out of the Bellamy Road mare She’s a Big Winner, was bred by owners SAF Racing, Ciaglia Racing LLC & H. Crusberg and is trained by Peter Eurton. She has three wins in eight starts, earnings of $179,470 and is coming off a June 22 optional claiming win.
Back On Track is by Prospect Park, out of the Good Journey mare Peg’s Journey, was bred by Carole Fernandez and is owned by trainer Paula Capestro. She has three wins in 10 starts, earnings of $113,605 and is coming off an eighth in a May 31 optional claimer.
Andiamo Regazza is by Smiling Tiger, out of the Acclamation mare Ragazza di Viola, was bred by Hat Trick, is owned by Hat Trick, Wachtel Stable and Gary Barber and is trained by Peter Miller. She has one win in two starts, earnings of $22,830 and is coming off a third in a June 22 optional claimer.
Stop Digging is by Mrazek, out of the Stormy Atlantic mare Atlantic Swing, was bred by owner Reddam Racing and is trained by Simon Callaghan. She has two wins in four starts, earnings of $94,800 and is coming off a May 25 optional claiming win.
Shamrockin is by Clubhouse Ride, out of the Broken Vow mare Irish Winnie, was bred by Moger Inc. and Neary Racing, is owned by Metanoia Racing and Craig Siedler and is trained by Paul Aguirre. She has two wins in six starts, earnings of $94,300 and is coming off an eighth in a July 20 optional claimer.
Quantum Innergy is by Clubhouse Ride, out of the Wildcat Heir mare Wild Caroline, was bred by James Shenouda, is owned by Innergy Racing Corp. and Zephyr Racing and is trained by Antonio Garcia. She has two wins in five starts, earnings of $82,300 and is coming off a win in a July 6 optional claimer.