Hard Not to Love appears headed for Santa Monica start

ARCADIA, Calif. – Hard Not to Love, winner of the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs on Dec. 28, is likely to remain at that distance for the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes against older fillies and mares on Feb. 15 at Santa Anita.

In the days after the La Brea, trainer John Shirreffs said he planned to run Hard Not to Love in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile for fillies and mares on March 14. Shirreffs said Friday that there is time for a start in the Santa Monica in the interim.

“We’ll probably run in the Santa Monica,” he said. “It’s a long time between races if I don’t do that.”

Owned by a sizable partnership that includes West Point Thoroughbreds and Mercedes Stable, Hard Not to Love won her first stakes in the La Brea, closing from the back of the field to finish 2 3/4 lengths in front of multiple graded stakes winner Bellafina.

Hard Not to Love nearly did not run. For several minutes after the post parade, jockey Mike Smith was unable to coax Hard Not to Love into a jog to begin her warmup. Smith and several outriders had to take a patient approach before Hard Not to Love jogged to the backstretch.

Hard Not to Love lost her left eye in a paddock accident before she was sent to Shirreffs. The incident in the post parade was not a surprise to Shirreffs, who has worked extensively with the filly to overcome her sight issues.

Earlier this month, Shirreffs met with Santa Anita stewards Grant Baker, Luis Jauregui, and Kim Sawyer to discuss what steps he was taking to work with the filly.

“They called me in so I could give them an idea of how we were handling it,” Shirreffs said.

Hard Not to Love has won 4 of 5 starts and earned $288,480. She will attempt to be the first filly to achieve the La Brea-Santa Monica double since Sam’s Sister in the winter of 2014-15.