Princess Grace Up to the Challenge in Yellow Ribbon

Although every mare in the field has had more experience than her, the lightly raced Princess Grace  appears up to the challenge of taking down her nine other rivals in the Aug. 7 Yellow Ribbon Handicap (G2T) for older fillies and mares on the turf at Del Mar.

The nearly black daughter of Karakontie   returned from an eight-month lay-off to score a game victory in the Dr. James Penny Memorial Stakes (G3T) at Parx Racing. In that effort, Princess Grace unleashed an explosive turn of foot at the top of the lane to split foes and outrun the German group 3-placed Madita  to the wire in a time only a second off the Parx track record for 1 1/16 miles on a firm turf course.

"Princess Grace has trained forwardly since her Parx stakes win," said trainer Michael Stidham, who also trained Princess Grace's dam, the winning, stakes-placed Silent Name   mare Masquerade.

Since her Dr. James Penny Memorial win, Princess Grace has zipped to two straight bullet works, including a July 31 :47 3/5 half-mile, over the Tapeta training track at Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md.

"Since she is already a grade 2 winner it didn't make sense to keep her on the East Coast to run in a listed stakes and with the Yellow Ribbon being a grade 2 it was enticing to make the trip west," said Stidham. "This will be a step up in competition and no easy task but she has been very tenacious in all of her starts to date so we will see how she matches up with these."

A homebred for John and Susan Moore, Princess Grace won her first two starts last summer before tackling stakes competition in Keeneland's Pin Oak Valley View Stakes (G3T). After settling for a close second to Stunning Sky  in what would be the only defeat of her career thus far, she turned the tables on that rival with a 2 3/4 length tally in an off-the-turf edition of the Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs.

The 4-year-old secures the services of Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux in the Yellow Ribbon and will break from post 8.

Waiting to thwart the East Coast invader will be a tough contingent of Southern California turf mares that includes no less than six graded stakes winners. While a majority of the field have traded turns in collecting stakes accolades over the past few seasons, the Simon Callaghan-trained Maxim Rate appears to have the best form entering into Saturday's contest.

Maxim Rate , a three-time graded stakes victress over the Santa Anita Park lawn, roared down the stretch late to prevail by a half-length over fellow Yellow Ribbon entrants Bodhicitta , Keeper Ofthe Stars , and Charmaine's Mia  in the May 31 Gamely Stakes (G1T) in arguably the best performance of her 16-race career.

Owned by Slam Dunk Racing, Stable Currency, and James Branham, the 5-year-old Exchange Rate  mare will be ridden back by J. J. Hernandez and leave the gate from the 9 hole.

The front-running Charmaine's Mia, who rolled to three straight graded stakes triumphs at Santa Anita for trainer Phil D'Amato before tiring to sixth in the Gamely, figures to benefit from the slight cutback in trip to the 1 1/16 miles of the Yellow Ribbon. LNJ Foxwoods' Dogtag , a multiple stakes winner on the turf, should also play a part in what could be a heated pace up front.

Grade 2 winner Raymundos Secret , Brooke , a group 1 winner in her native country, last out Osunitas Stakes winner Ippodamia's Girl , and the Gary Barber-owned Laura's Light , conqueror of the rained off the turf May 31 Ouija Board Distaff Stakes, complete the field.

Entries: Yellow Ribbon H. (G2T)

Del Mar, Saturday, August 07, 2021, Race 10

• Grade IIT
• 1 1/16m
• Turf
• $200,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 6:36 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Bodhicitta (GB)	Trevor McCarthy	123	Richard Baltas	6/1
2	2Raymundos Secret (FL)	Tiago Josue Pereira	120	Philip D'Amato	6/1
3	3Charmaine's Mia (KY)	Joe Bravo	123	Philip D'Amato	4/1
4	4Dogtag (KY)	UMBERTO RISPOLI	118	Richard E. Mandella	4/1
5	5Brooke (CHI)	Kyle Frey	118	Michael W. McCarthy	12/1
6	6Keeper Ofthe Stars (KY)	Abel Cedillo	121	Jonathan Wong	12/1
7	7Ippodamia's Girl (KY)	Geovanni Franco	119	Richard Baltas	12/1
8	8Princess Grace (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	121	Michael Stidham	8/1
9	9Maxim Rate (KY)	Juan J. Hernandez	124	Simon Callaghan	7/2
10	10Laura's Light (KY)	Jose Valdivia, Jr.	120	Peter Miller	15/1