After peaking in the Breeders' Cup, Ce Ce starts anew in Santa Monica

ARCADIA, Calif. – Ce Ce could have retired after a decisive victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in fall, but her broodmare career will have to wait.

Ce Ce is 6 years old and not done yet. A Grade 1 winner short and long, Ce Ce launches her 2022 campaign as the heavy favorite in the Grade 2, seven-furlong Santa Monica Stakes, race 6 on Saturday at Santa Anita.

Owner-breeder Bo Hirsch and trainer Michael McCarthy expect Ce Ce to pick up where she left off in the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar on Nov. 6. McCarthy said the mare “came back [to Santa Anita], had an easy 10 or 12 days, started back up, and hasn’t missed a beat.”

Ce Ce’s main rival Saturday is front-runner Merneith, who won the Santa Monica last year. Merneith is trained by Bob Baffert, who also entered Grade 1 La Brea Stakes winner Kalypso. Park Avenue goes route to sprint as a come-from-behind upset candidate. Full of Grace is the outsider in the five-runner field.

The $200,000 Santa Monica centers on the class of the field. Ce Ce has won eight races, three Grade 1’s and $1,753,100 from 16 starts, and accomplished enough to make her an attractive broodmare. McCarthy was delighted when Hirsch opted to keep her in training.

“Bo gets of lot of enjoyment out of her,” McCarthy said. “He wants to see her run again this year.”

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While her 2022 campaign will be determined after her Saturday comeback, she has plenty of options.

“She can do a little bit of everything,” McCarthy said. “We’ll see what happens, but we’ve got races all over the world, races at Oaklawn Park . . . ”

Prior to becoming a top sprinter last year by winning three graded races at one turn, Ce Ce won a pair of two-turn Grade 1’s in 2020 that could again be targets in 2022. Those are the $500,000 Beholder Mile on March 5 at Santa Anita, and the Apple Blossom on April 23 at Oaklawn.

First things first. Victor Espinoza rides Ce Ce from post 2, sandwiched between the two Baffert runners. Kalypso, who won a low-rated (81 Beyer) La Brea last out, breaks from the rail under John Velazquez. Merneith, the likely pacesetter, makes her second start back from a layoff and should improve under Edwin Maldonado.

Park Avenue enters as an upset candidate for John Sadler, replacing stablemate Edgeway, the BC Filly and Mare Sprint runner-up who will miss the Santa Monica after a minor setback. Edgeway resumed working this week.

Sadler recognizes Park Avenue faces a tall order Saturday, but said: “She’s doing really, really well. She’s training great now.”

Park Avenue’s first two sprints were not great. “That was before she got her act together,” Sadler said. “I like her better coming off the pace. We want to let her change her style a little bit.”

Juan Hernandez rides Park Avenue, a distant runner-up last out in a Grade 2 route.