ARCADIA, Calif. – Mrs. Astor, a veteran turf mare with six stakes wins, has finally reached a career crossroads.
The 6-year-old is favored Sunday at Santa Anita in the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes, a $100,000 race that will determine her direction. One option is a full campaign in 2026, including the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes in May at Santa Anita. A second option is retirement to become a broodmare.
“We’ll let Sunday dictate the direction,” trainer Jonathan Thomas said this week. “If she’s in career form, and there’s a Grade 1 [ahead], it makes sense to try to wait for that.
“I’m hoping she runs well enough to take us that direction and forfeit the year as a broodmare,” Thomas said. “I would feel I’ve let her down if I didn’t give her an opportunity to accumulate Grade 1 black type.”
Mrs. Astor, by Lookin At Lucky, has won eight races and $627,345 from 22 starts for owner-breeder George Strawbridge Jr. She was expected to be bred this spring, but the three-time Grade 3 winner remains sharp and has won four of her last five starts. She has never raced in a Grade 1.
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That could change if she runs to expectations in the Santa Ana, a 1 1/4-mile turf race for fillies and mares. The 1 1/8-mile Gamely is right around the corner on May 25.
“If she were to run very well [in the Santa Ana] it sets her up very nicely for a race like the Gamely,” Thomas said.
He added Mrs. Astor could be retired “if she didn’t run up to par, which we’re not seeing from how she’s training. It’s a Grade 1 kind of looking us in the eye.”
Mrs. Astor faces nine rivals in the Santa Ana, including Grade 3 winners Public Assembly and Paradise Lake; longshot front-runner A Thousand Miles; and Thomas-trained Grade 3-placed Starry Night. Ima Joker, Queen Sienna, Hey Jessie, Take A Breath, and Resolve also are in the main body of the race. Catalina Cocktail is an also-eligible.
Barring scratches, Mrs. Astor is compromised by her outside draw. The past two decades, post 10 is 1 for 41 in 1 1/4-mile turf races at Santa Anita. It will be up to new jockey Antonio Fresu to negotiate a trip. Fresu takes over for sidelined Umberto Rispoli.
“She’s probably the most uncomplicated horse in the barn to ride,” Thomas said. “You can put her where you want, she’s got a turn of foot, she gives you all the different tools you need to navigate various pace scenarios, and she also has a way of getting herself out of some pretty bad situations.”
If it’s close at the wire, Mrs. Astor probably will win the bob. She is 5 for 5 in photo finishes.
“Every once in a while, you have a horse with that kind of intangible that you can’t train into them, that kind of desire, and that will get the job done,” Thomas said. “We’re just lucky to train her, we’re just lucky to have her.”
Public Assembly and Paradise Lake are not far behind Mrs. Astor in terms of class and speed. Phil D’Amato trains Public Assembly, a Grade 3 winner whose repeated troubled trips are either bad luck or self-caused.
“I think a little bit of both, no doubt,” D’Amato said. “She’s a filly you have to time her run right, get her in the clear, and give her an opportunity. She doesn’t have that instant, instant acceleration, but she’s got that nice tactical speed, and she’s always competitive in those kinds of races.”
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Public Assembly, fourth by a length last out in the Grade 3 Megahertz at one mile, has won 3 of 13 starts. Florent Geroux is the 5-year-old mare’s new rider.
Paradise Lake, trained by Peter Eurton, won the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel Stakes last out, her fourth win from 11 starts. Juan Hernandez rides the 5-year-old mare.
The one-mile Grade 3 Wilshire on March 28 is the next turf stakes for fillies and mares, followed by the one-mile, Grade 3 Royal Heroine on April 25.
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