Field of nine expected for Great Lady M.

Led by the Grade 1 winner Sweet Azteca, Saturday’s Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs at Los Alamitos has a probable field of nine.

The $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes is the leading sprint for older females of the summer in California. The race is the richest stakes of the three-week summer meeting at Los Alamitos, which ends on Sunday.

Sweet Azteca has not raced since a win in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita on March 9, her third victory in four career starts. Owned by Pamela Ziebarth, Sweet Azteca is trained by Michael McCarthy, who also plans to start Three Witches. A winner of 4 of 10 starts, Three Witches won the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita in February, but was seventh of 10 in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 4.

The Great Lady M. Stakes has drawn several other contenders, notably Daddysruby, the winner of the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs at Santa Anita last December; and Chismosa, the winner of the Desert Stormer Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs at Santa Anita on June 2.

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