From Santa Anita Publicity
ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 18, 2026) — Grand Slam Smile became an eight-time stakes winner Saturday when winning the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf Sprint for California-breds. She’s never missed the board in 17 starts and has banked $828,120 for owners-breeders Larry and Marianne Williams.
What the ultra-consistent 5-year-old mare by Smiling Tiger has yet to do is win a graded stakes. An attempt at that coveted achievement could be next for Grand Slam Smile, trainer Sean McCarthy indicated Sunday morning.
“We’ll just enjoy yesterday for now and then start looking at things in a little bit and see where we want to go. But that’s what we’d like to do eventually,” McCarthy said. ”We thought yesterday was a good spot to get her going in the new year. We’ll look at graded stakes opportunities here and elsewhere also.”
In the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf Sprint on the hillside turf course, Grand Slam Smile broke in front and was never challenged on her way to a 1 ½-length victory under William Antongeorgi III.
Earlier on the card, McCarthy nearly won the Unusual Heat Turf Classic with the filly Hey Jessie. The 4-year-old Grazen filly rallied from second-to-last to finish second by a half length behind Vodka Vodka.
“She’d been training really well. Tearing down the barn as a matter of fact and she showed it yesterday,” McCarthy said. “She made a heck of a run, just couldn’t quite get there. Vodka Vodka is obviously a very good horse.”
As for what’s next for Hey Jessie, McCarthy said “we’ll play it by ear” but added a stakes try on dirt could be forthcoming. She’s ran on dirt only once in nine starts. As a 2-year-old Hey Jessie won the one-mile Soviet Problem for statebreds at Los Alamitos.
“She likes a distance of ground. I don’t think dirt’s out of the question,” McCarthy said. “She obviously won a stakes at Los Alamitos as a 2-year-old. That course for whatever reason does tend to favor turf horses. But she’s always trained well on the dirt so we might look at that.”