Just Grazed Me to face graded company in Sen. Ken Maddy

ARCADIA, Calif. – Just Grazed Me will make her graded stakes debut on turf in the Grade 3 Sen. Ken Maddy Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 after winning Saturday’s $100,351 California Distaff Handicap for statebred fillies and mares over the same course and distance.

Ridden by Geovanni Franco, Just Grazed Me closed from fourth of six to win by 1 3/4 lengths over the 3-year-old Don’t Sell.

“I like the way she pulled away in the last sixteenth,” trainer Phil D’Amato said.

Owned by breeder Nick Alexander, Just Grazed Me, 4, has won 5 of 9 starts and earned $334,332. She won the Fleet Treat Stakes for 3-year-old statebred fillies at Del Mar in the summer of 2018 and was second in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines Stakes at a mile there for 3-year-old fillies in her only other appearance in a graded stakes.

This year, Just Grazed Me has run only on turf, finishing third in the Daisycutter Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on July 20. She later won an allowance race with a $62,500 claiming option at five furlongs on turf on Aug. 14.

“Every grass race has been better than the last,” D’Amato said. “I’ve been very happy with her progression.”

The $100,000 Sen. Ken Maddy Stakes is run on the undercard of the Saturday Breeders’ Cup program.

In the California Distaff, S Y Sky finished fourth as the 6-5 favorite for Alexander and D’Amato. Sunday, D’Amato said that S Y Sky will be given a rest this fall. She has won five stakes, including three this year.