Grand Slam Smile switches back to dirt for Betty Grable repeat bid
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Grand Slam Smile has done the vast majority of her work on the turf this year, but the 5-year-old mare has always been game for a try on dirt and will go for her second straight stakes victory in the $100,000 Betty Grable on Sunday at Del Mar.
“I was just letting her tell me if we were going to run in this race or not,” trainer Sean McCarthy said. “Her last two works have been super, so she’s doing well, and I have no reason not to go ahead and take a shot with her.”
Last year, as a 4-year-old, Grand Slam Smile won the $150,000 Solana Beach and was second in the $100,000 California Distaff Handicap on turf before switching surfaces in the Betty Grable and responding with an impressive 1 1/4-length victory. She may not be the 3-5 favorite in this year’s field of nine California-bred or -sired fillies and mares, but she still enters as a strong contender.
In eight starts this year, the mare has won four stakes for California-breds and finished third in the Grade 2 Buena Vista and Grade 3 Royal Heroine. In her only start on dirt, she finished fifth in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. at Los Alamitos in July, running behind next-out stakes winners Sweet Azteca and Magnificat as well as the Bob Baffert-trained filly Nooni.
“That just wasn’t her day that day,” McCarthy said. “It was a very tough race, probably the deepest field she’s run against. But otherwise, her year’s been super and she’s doing well right now.”
Not only does Grand Slam Smile have five wins in 10 starts on dirt, but she is also 2 for 3 at seven furlongs, a distance she handled well in the Betty Grable last year. McCarthy said he was concerned about drawing post 1, but her tactical speed could be enough to keep her out of trouble.
Fibonaccis Ride, a 4-year-old filly trained by Antonio Garcia, defeated Grand Slam Smile in the Solana Beach, a mile race on turf at Del Mar in August. She has far more to prove cutting back on dirt, a surface she has not run over since a distant allowance defeat in February.
Clubhouse Cutie also finished behind Fibonaccis Ride in the Solana Beach before switching to dirt for Ian Kruljac. In October, she improved to win a first-level allowance in open company with an 83 Beyer Speed Figure.
Trainer Val Brinkerhoff will once again take charge of the Canadian-bred Big Hug, who ran in California for three months in 2025 before returning to her home nation for trainer Rick Hedge. In October, she earned her second straight victory when she won the $50,000 Lynn Chouinard Founders Distaff Handicap at Century Downs by 10 lengths.
She’s No Quant is the only runner in the field coming out of graded stakes company, having finished second against other 3-year-olds in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines and fifth against older rivals in the Grade 2 Zenyatta. The Edward Freeman trainee previously won three straight, including the $150,000 Fleet Treat at Del Mar in July.
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