Grand Slam Smile takes early lead to the wire in Betty Grable Stakes

Grand Slam Smile scrapped for the early lead and pulled clear with ease to win the $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes on Sunday at Del Mar. The switch from turf to dirt went seamlessly for the 5-year-old mare, who earned her second straight stakes victory in a 5 1/4-length romp.

Though she has enjoyed most of her success on turf in the past two years, the Sean McCarthy trainee has now won 6 of 11 career starts on dirt, including the last two editions of the Betty Grable and four more stakes. After a gritty win in the $100,000 California Distaff Handicap on the grass last month, she had far less trouble in the Betty Grable, paying $4.20 to win.

“She was very impressive today, for sure,” McCarthy said. “She opened up strongly down the lane. I was really, really pleased with her. She kind of showed her cards last weekend, she put in a super work. She worked in 59 and change, but the way she did it, she really tipped her hand.”

The 12-1 longshot Issa Court made a race of it against the heavy favorite in the early going, advancing from the far outside to take the lead. Grand Slam Smile and jockey Juan Hernandez hustled forward from the rail to challenge and eventually took over, completing the opening quarter-mile in 22.32 seconds and half-mile in 44.73.

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She’s No Quant, the 8-5 favorite trained by Edward Freeman, appeared to be moving into striking position at the top of the stretch, but she never seriously challenged. Issa Court rapidly fell back as well, leaving Grand Slam Mile to pull away with authority near the wire. She completed the seven-furlong distance in 1:22.71.

“That was a pretty impressive win today with a fast time,” McCarthy said. “She finished up the season strong, obviously.”

Big Hug, a last-out listed stakes winner in Canada, rallied from last to finish second, nipping She’s No Quant by a half-length.

Just as she did last year, Grand Slam Smile will wrap up her campaign with her Betty Grable victory, though McCarthy said he plans to bring her back as a 6-year-old early next year. Her campaign will likely begin at Santa Anita in January.

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