Hard Not to Love, Mother Mother tune up for Santa Monica

ARCADIA, Calif. – Two 4-year-old fillies expected to play dominant roles in the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes on Feb. 15 – Hard Not to Love and Mother Mother – had quick workouts at Santa Anita on Friday.

Hard Not to Love, the upset winner of the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at seven furlongs on Dec. 28, worked five furlongs in 1:00.60. The only horse with a faster time at the distance was Mother Mother, who was clocked in 59.80 seconds.

Hard Not to Love, trained by John Shirreffs, won the La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies for her fourth victory in five starts. She was reluctant to join the post parade that day before a large crowd, refusing for several minutes before she jogged to the backstretch. Shirreffs said Friday he does not expect a repeat occurrence.

“She came out of the La Brea very well,” Shirreffs saiad. “She’s been training nicely.”

Mother Mother, trained by Bob Baffert, was third in the La Brea Stakes, beaten 3 1/4 lengths. Mother Mother returned to win the Kalookan Queen Stakes against fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs on Jan. 12 for her first stakes win since October 2018.

Lady Ninja, the runner-up in the Kalookan Queen, and the multiple stakes winner Spiced Perfection are candidates for the $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes, which is run at seven furlongs.

The Santa Monica is the richest race of the four-day racing week at Santa Anita, which runs from Friday through Monday, Presidents Day. The track eliminated Thursday racing this week and on Feb. 13 because of concern over the availability of race-ready horses.