Kalookan Queen win has Edgeway ready to tackle Santa Monica
ARCADIA, Calif. – Competition in the female sprint division will be tougher for Edgeway when she seeks her first Grade 2 in the Santa Monica Stakes on Feb. 5 at Santa Anita. She will not face Gamine, whose retirement was announced this week, but Edgeway will need to run faster than the 86 Beyer Speed Figure she earned winning the $77,028 Kalookan Queen Stakes on Sunday.
Edgeway is up to the challenge. Runner-up to Ce Ce in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with a 96 Beyer, Edgeway was using the Kalookan Queen only as a bridge from the Breeders’ Cup to the Santa Monica, trainer John Sadler said.
“She was doing good, it was here, and I said I’m just going to run,” Sadler said this week after Edgeway’s gate-to-wire win over three rivals in the 6 1/2-furlong Kalookan Queen. Next stop for 6-for-10 Edgeway – seven furlongs in the $200,000 Santa Monica.
“That’s kind of the logical spot,” Sadler said. “I imagine we’d catch Ce Ce in that one.”
Well, maybe.
Ce Ce’s trainer, Michael McCarthy, did not commit.
“The Inside Information is out there, we’ve got the Santa Monica, we’ve got plenty of options,” McCarthy said this week.
Ce Ce has resumed a once-a-week work pattern and is expected to be nominated to the Grade 2, $200,000 Inside Information on Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park.
With the Tuesday announcement that Gamine is retired, Ce Ce and Edgeway are the top-ranked female sprinters based in California. Other top runners in the division include Grade 1 La Brea winner Kalypso and 2021 Santa Monica winner Merneith, runner-up in the Kalookan Queen.