Round Two for Ce Ce, Hard Not to Love in Santa Maria

The stage is set for Ce Ce vs. Hard Not to Love, round two.

The grade 1-winning older mares, who clashed in the March 14 Beholder Mile Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park, with Ce Ce running down frontrunning Hard Not to Love, will meet again May 31 in the $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes (G2). Though the locale is the same, the race conditions are not.

The Santa Maria is a sixteenth mile longer at 1 1/16 miles, over which Ce Ce is a winner but Hard Not to Love is not. Also, the race includes a weight shift. After meeting at level weights at 121 pounds apiece in the Beholder, this time Hard Not to Love will receive a four-pound weight break from Ce Ce, who will carry 126 pounds to her 122.

The Santa Maria almost drew the top three finishers from the Beholder, but trainer John Sadler said he opted to pass the race with Ollie's Candy, who ran third, in favor of the June 13 Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park. 

In part due to the talent of the leading duo, the Santa Maria drew only three others: Fighting Mad, Horologist, and Kaydetre. Though Fighting Mad and Horologist are grade 3 winners and Kaydetre is stakes-placed, the public figures to largely bet the Santa Maria as a two-horse duel between Ce Ce and Hard Not to Love.

It has been a good couple of months for Ce Ce this spring. In addition to her triumph in the Beholder Mile, she took a star-studded renewal of the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 18 at Oaklawn Park.

Despite drawing post 14 in that race, she was able to work out a nice trip under regular jockey Victor Espinoza, who placed her by herself in fifth. Three-to-four wide for much of the race, Espinoza sent Ce Ceafter the hot pace-establishing Ollie's Candy and wore her down in the race's final yards. Under stern late urging, she won by a head, finishing 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.14.

Video: Apple Blossom H. (G1)

Ce Ce also rallied from fifth in the Beholder Mile after Hard Not to Love had bounded to the front. She surged ahead in the stretch, opening up a 1 1/2-length lead with a furlong to race and extending that margin to 3 1/4 lengths at the wire. The Michael McCarthy trainee ran a mile in 1:37.33 over a more tiring surface than the one at Oaklawn.

A homebred daughter of Elusive Quality owned by Bo Hirsch, Ce Ce is out of the grade 1-winning Belong to Me mare Miss Houdini. She is a half sister to Papa Clem (by Smart Strike), winner of the 2009 Arkansas Derby (G2).

While Ce Ce traveled to Arkansas, one-eyed fan favorite Hard Not to Love remained at Santa Anita in training as local racing was suspended for seven weeks due to COVID-19. She enters the Santa Maria fresh after a layoff of 2 1/2 months. As in the Beholder, she drew the inside post, a position from which jockey Mike Smith allowed her to run freely last out.

Video: Beholder Mile S. (G1)

Trainer John Shirreffs, who trains the 4-year-old Hard Spun  filly, had hoped for a change in posts but the random draw did not work out that way. She races for owners Mercedes Stables, West Point Thoroughbreds, Scott Dilworth, Dorothy and David Ingordo, and Steve Mooney.

With her better races coming from off the pace—resulting in wins in the seven-furlong Santa Monica Stakes (G2) and La Brea Stakes (G1)—Smith may opt for different tactics, perhaps rating her behind Fighting Mad, a filly fast enough to lead for a portion of the six-furlong Desert Stormer Stakes (G3) last out.

Hard Not to Love breezed five furlongs in a bullet :58 4/5 May 24 at Santa Anita.

"She came out of the work really well," Shirreffs said. "We had a little (racing) delay here, but other than that, she's been running on a pretty consistent basis. I think that has helped her mature."

Entries: Santa Maria S. (G2)

Santa Anita Park, Sunday, May 31, 2020, Race 7

• Grade II
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 3:42 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Hard Not to Love (ON)	Mike E. Smith	122	John A. Shirreffs	9/5
2	2Ce Ce (KY)	Victor Espinoza	126	Michael W. McCarthy	3/5
3	3Fighting Mad (KY)	Abel Cedillo	124	Bob Baffert	6/1
4	4Horologist (NJ)	Flavien Prat	124	Richard Baltas	8/1
5	5Kaydetre (KY)	Brice Blanc	122	David A. Randall	20/1