From Santa Anita Publicity
ARCADIA, Calif. (Mar. 18, 2023) — Alice Marble’s productive winter at Santa Anita continued Friday with a second-straight stakes win in the 6 1/2-furlong Irish O’Brien Stakes for Golden State Series eligible fillies and mares, which was scheduled for the hillside turf course but moved to the main track.
Trainer Phil D’Amato Saturday morning said the Nick Alexander homebred “came out of the race in good shape” and would likely target a two-turn race for her next start. A leading possibility is the Fran’s Valentine Stakes, a one-mile turf race for California-breds which Alice Marble won last year.
“We’ll check out our options, but the Fran’s Valentine would be a logical choice,” D’Amato said.
In the Irish O’Brien, Alice Marble stalked the pace in second under Flavien Prat before taking over near the quarter pole and crossing the wire a 1 ¼-length winner. The runner-up, Rose Maddox, finished well in an encouraging effort after having to check hard on the turn. Rose Maddox, also an Alexander homebred, is trained by Steve Miyadi.
As for Alice Marble, she upped her record to 7-2-3 from 15 starts. She has four stakes wins on the resume. The $60,000 winner’s share for the Irish O’Brien pushed her earnings to $470,080.