Santa Monica Takes Momentum into Glens Falls

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Santa Monica Takes Momentum into Glens Falls
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Santa Monica enters the Glens Falls off a victory in the Dance Smartly Stakes at Woodbine

After notching a grade 2 victory in her previous start, Santa Monica will look for further graded stakes success Sept. 1 in the $250,000 Glens Falls Stakes (G2T) on the Saratoga Race Course inner turf.

Racing for Susan Magnier, Madaket Stables, and Deron Pearson, Santa Monica already has put together her most successful season with two wins in three starts—her first starts in North America for champion trainer Chad Brown. 

After opening the season with a four-length score in an allowance race at Keeneland—her first time racing on Lasix—Santa Monica then finished third in the Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G2T) at Belmont Park before being shipped to Woodbine, where the 5-year-old Mastercraftsman mare won the Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T).

The allowance win at Keeneland snapped a six-race losing streak for Santa Monica, dating to her victory in the Munster Oaks Stakes (G3) in June 2017 at Cork. That stretch wrapped up 22 starts in Ireland and England for trainer Charles O'Brien.

Brown has entered two other runners in Saturday's 1 3/8-mile test for fillies and mares—Martin Schwartz's Onthemoonagain, who in her United States debut Aug. 2 finished third in an optional-claiming allowance race on the Saratoga turf, and Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence's Homeland Security, who will be making her first start since winning the River Memories Stakes July 8 on the Belmont turf.

Brown told NYRA publicity that his horses are training well going into Saturday's test.

The second- and third-place runners from the River Memories—Savannah Belle and Summersault, respectively—also have been entered Saturday.

The field also includes a pair of 4-year-old fillies entered off allowance wins on the grass at Saratoga—Allen Stable's Danceland, trained by Shug McGaughey, and Godolphin Racing's Lady Montdore, trained by Tom Albertrani.

"She's doing really well," McGaughey said of Danceland, a daughter of Tapit  who has won two straight. "This is a big step up for her. I like the distance. I think she'll settle in behind horses and go from there. Right now, I'm looking forward to running her."


Entries: Glens Falls S. (G2T)

Saratoga Race Course, Saturday, September 01, 2018, Race 12

  • Grade II
  • 1 3/8m
  • Inner turf
  • $250,000
  • 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
  • 7:17 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Summersault (NY) Jose Lezcano 118 Mark A. Hennig 10/1
2 2Savannah Belle (KY) Luis Saez 116 Brian A. Lynch 20/1
3 3Onthemoonagain (FR) Javier Castellano 118 Chad C. Brown 3/1
4 4Danceland (KY) John R. Velazquez 116 Claude R. McGaughey III 10/1
5 5Santa Monica (GB) Jose L. Ortiz 120 Chad C. Brown 6/5
6 6Homeland Security (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Chad C. Brown 9/2
7 7La Manta Gris (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Ricardo Santana, Jr. 116 George R. Arnold, II 15/1
8 8Lady Montdore (KY) Manuel Franco 116 Thomas Albertrani 8/1
9 9Land Mine (NY) Manuel Franco 117 Philip M. Serpe 1/1