Grand Slam Smile joins Sean McCarthy’s stable, may start soon
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ARCADIA, Calif. - The multiple stakes winner Grand Slam Smile joined trainer Sean McCarthy’s stable earlier this year at Santa Anita and is nearing her first start since late November.
Owned and bred by Larry and Marianne Williams, Grand Slam Smile has won 6 of 11 starts and earned $526,400. She was previously trained by Steve Specht, who retired late last year.
A 4-year-old filly, Grand Slam Smile has won five stakes on turf and dirt at Santa Anita since June 2023, including the $200,000 California Cup Oaks for statebred 3-year-old fillies in January 2024. She was given a rest after a second-place finish at 4-5 in the Livermore Valley Stakes for statebred fillies and mares at six furlongs at Pleasanton on Nov. 30, her sixth start of 2024.
“They gave her some time off,” McCarthy said. “She had a good campaign.”
McCarthy said Grand Slam Smile may start before the end of the current Santa Anita spring meeting on June 15.
“Depending on what the condition book looks like, there is a good chance I get a race in her before this is over,” he said. “So far, so good. She’s doing well.”
In February, Specht drove Grand Slam Smile to McCarthy’s stable at Santa Anita.
“He told me all about her and how she is,” McCarthy said. “I keep in touch with him every week and let him know how she is doing. This filly means a lot to him.”
McCarthy said Grand Slam Smile is the first horse he has trained on behalf of the Williamses, who have had a small, but prominent, stable of homebreds in recent years. McCarthy also has an unraced 2-year-old for the Williamses, a California-bred colt by Practical Joke who is out Antares World, a three-time stakes winner who earned $438,328.
“We’ll probably run him in the first week of June,” McCarthy said.
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