Grand Slam Smile ahead of the curve coming into Royal Heroine

ARCADIA, Calif. – Grand Slam Smile is ahead of schedule, having already started three times this year while she nears $1 million in earnings.

Saturday, Grand Slam Smile will try to finish ahead of her rivals in the Grade 3 Royal Heroine Stakes at Santa Anita, a turf mile for fillies and mares in which she looks like the controlling speed. The outside post, 9 of 9, is no problem according to trainer Sean McCarthy.

“Being on the outside is somewhat of an advantage because she’s tactical,” McCarthy said. “If somebody runs away from there hard, fine, we’re in a good spot outside to stay off of them. If she jumps away from there very quickly, and crosses over easily, then that’s fine, too.”

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Whether she sets or presses the pace, Grand Slam Smile is the program favorite while making her fourth start of the season. Grand Slam Smile typically does not get rolling until late spring, but in 2026 she started early and continues to win more than her share.

Grand Slam Smile, 11 for 19 with nine stakes victories, raced three times during the Santa Anita winter meet – two wins in hillside stakes for Cal-bred females sandwiched around a third in the Grade 2 Buena Vista at a mile on turf. Now 5, Grand Slam Smile has unfinished business.

“We’d like to win a graded stake with her, and obviously get to a million dollars with her, those are the goals for 2026,” McCarthy said.

Grand Slam Smile, third in both her previous graded stakes starts, has earned $912,120 for owner-breeders Larry and Marianne Williams.

Regular rider William Antongeorgi is back on Grand Slam Smile. Her rivals include Tirupati, a Grade 3 winner; May Day Ready, a two-time Grade 2 winner of age-restricted races; and Take a Breath, a last-out Grade 3 winner at 1 1/4 miles who is listed as the 4-1 second choice.

The field also includes a pair of longshots trained by Phil D’Amato, who has won the Royal Heroine four of the last five years. D’Amato entered Ripassare and Innovative. Other entrants are A Thousand Miles, Rosie Jeeks, and Watchtower.

If she wins the Royal Heroine, Grand Slam Smile could reach $1 million next month. The $100,000 Fran’s Valentine Stakes for Cal-bred fillies and mares is May 23 at a mile on turf.

The main rivals for Grand Slam Smile in the Royal Heroine are Tirupati and May Day Ready, co-third choices at 9-2. Tirupati had been off nearly a year when she finished fifth last month in the Grade 3 Monrovia, a hillside turf sprint. Trainer Jonathan Thomas described her performance as “respectable.”

“It’s not her preferred distance, and we were kind of using it as a stepping-stone to the Royal Heroine,” Thomas said “She came out of it very well, has put two good works back to back.”

If the race unfolds as expected, Tirupati and jockey Kazushi Kimura could tuck in second behind the speed. Tirupati has won four of 15, including the Grade 3 Wilshire last year at a mile on turf.

Thomas-trained Rashmi skipped the Royal Heroine after she crushed her comeback last month in the Wilshire. Rashmi will train up to the Grade 1 Gamely on May 25. The spring campaign for Tirupati depends on her performance Saturday.

May Day Ready, previously based in the East and Midwest with trainer Joseph Lee, finished second in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar. She won the Grade 2 Lake George for 3-year-old fillies last summer at Saratoga before she tailed off.

“This will be her first race for us,” trainer Richard Mandella noted, adding May Day Ready is “not real big, but very well balanced, a beautiful filly. I don’t see why she wouldn’t run very good the first time.”

Antonio Fresu rides May Day Ready, who has won four of 10.

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