ARCADIA, Calif. – Kopion, the nation’s leading female sprinter, continues to record fast workout times in advance of her next scheduled start in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 5. On Wednesday at Santa Anita, Kopion worked six furlongs in 1:11. She worked alone, but raced in pursuit of a horse from another stable who started well in front. “One broke off quite aways in front and she decided she had to catch that thing,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “It was pretty awesome. “She couldn’t be better. I was planning her bigger work to be next week, but I’ll let this be her big work.” :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports The $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares is the leading race of the three-week Los Alamitos meeting that runs from Friday through July 6. Sweet Azteca, winner of the Grade 1 Beholder Mile in 2024, and One Magic Philly, the winner of the Grade 3 Chillingworth Stakes at Santa Anita last fall are two other notable contenders. Sweet Azteca was fourth in the Chillingworth, her most recent start. Mandella said on Wednesday that the Great Lady M. Stakes could lead to a variety of options with Kopion later this summer. He mentioned the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs against males at Del Mar on July 26, the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes against fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar on Aug. 2, or the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes against fillies and mares at seven furlongs at Saratoga on Aug. 23 as potential starts. “She’s got me thinking about so many possibilities,” Mandella said. Kopion has won 5 of 7 starts and earned $1,024,700 for Spendthrift Farm. A 4-year-old by Omaha Beach, Kopion has won three consecutive races at seven furlongs since returning from an eight-month layoff last December. The first two wins of the current streak were at Santa Anita - the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in December, the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes against fillies and mares in February. In her last start, in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 3, Kopion closed from sixth of 10 to win the $1 million race for fillies and mares by a convincing three lengths. Kopion has never started against males. She is winless in two starts around two turns – a second in the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes at a mile at Santa Anita in March 2024, and a well-beaten fourth in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles a month later, her final start before the layoff. Mandella said the Hirsch has significant appeal for Kopion “with the way she’s working.” “It’s hard to imagine her getting better, but I don’t know that she’s not,” he said. “She’s getting so professional.” Mandella said that Tamara, the Grade 1 winner whose career has been plagued by injuries, was galloped at Santa Anita on Wednesday for the first time since returning to training following an operation to have a bone chip removed from a sesamoid earlier this year. “She has jogged a couple of weeks and galloped” Wednesday, he said. “She’s coming back nice.” Tamara, owned and bred by Spendthrift Farm, has not raced since she finished second by a nose in an allowance race at Del Mar last November. She missed a scheduled start in the La Brea Stakes in December because of illness and sustained a sesamoid injury while training in late January. Tamara has won 2 of 4 starts, including the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante in September 2023. She was seventh as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita later that year. A 4-year-old filly, Tamara is by Bolt d’Oro out of Beholder, a Hall of Fame mare and four-time champion in a five-year career from 2012 to 2016. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.