Kopion, Sweet Azteca on course for Great Lady M. showdown

A tantalizing showdown is on schedule between the Grade 1 winners Kopion and Sweet Azteca in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 5.

Kopion, the emphatic winner of the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at seven furlongs at Churchill Downs on May 3, worked five furlongs in 59.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Wednesday.

“She couldn’t be doing any better,” trainer Richard Mandella said on Thursday.

Kopion, owned by Spendthrift Farm, is unbeaten in three sprint stakes since returning from an eight-month layoff in late December.

Sweet Azteca, winner of the Great Lady M. Stakes in 2024, worked five furlongs in 58.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Wednesday. Trainer Richard Baltas timed Sweet Azteca galloping out six furlongs in 1:12 and seven furlongs in 1:25.

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Baltas began training Sweet Azteca last winter when the mare was transferred to his stable by owner and breeder Pamela Ziebarth. Michael McCarthy was Sweet Azteca’s previous trainer.

Sweet Azteca has yet to start for Baltas. She was scratched from the Desert Stormer Stakes at Santa Anita on June 1 after sustaining a cut on a leg.

“It was one of those things,” Baltas said. “We gave her antibiotics for a few days and it went straight down. She looks pretty good.”

Sweet Azteca has not raced since she finished fourth as the 1-10 favorite in the Grade 3 Chillingworth Stakes at Santa Anita last October, a loss that ended a streak of three wins in graded stakes. Sweet Azteca, winner of the Grade 1 Beholder Mile at Satna Anita in 2024, won the 2024 Great Lady M. Stakes in 1:14.33, a track record for 6 1/2 furlongs.

The $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares is the richest race of the three-week Los Alamitos summer meeting, which runs from June 20 to July 6.

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