Maxim Rate gets the trip in Gamely win
ARCADIA, Calif. -- Jockey Juan Hernandez had plenty of material to review prior to riding Maxim Rate for the first time in Monday’s Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita.
Maxim Rate won three stakes in 2019 and 2020, but was fifth in her last two starts – the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar last November and a tough running of the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland in her 2021 debut on April 10.
“I watched some videos,” Hernandez said. “She looked like she puts herself in a good spot.”
With a pace to follow in the $301,000 Gamely, Hernandez guided Maxim Rate to a first career Grade 1 win with a late rally. Maxim Rate ($29.80) ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.61 - with a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 96 - and finished a half-length in front of 9-2 Signare, who ran well through the stretch.
“She relaxed pretty well for me,” Hernandez said. “I had a good trip and waited for the quarter pole. I asked her to go and she took off.
“She got really brave when that other horse came up.”
Bodhicitta (12-1) finished third in her first start since an eighth-place finish in the Matriarch Stakes last November. Keeper Ofthe Stars, who won the 2020 Gamely, finished fourth, followed by Going to Vegas, Charmaine’s Mia, and Red Lark.
Charmaine’s Mia was the 4-5 favorite. She set an honest pace of 22.82 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 45.94 for a half-mile, while closely tracked by Keeper Ofthe Stars. Charmaine’s Mia, the winner of three stakes earlier this year at six furlongs and a mile on turf, faded through the final furlong to finish 5 1/4 lengths behind Maxim Rate.
“She was on the bridle the whole way,” said Phil D’Amato, the trainer of Charmaine’s Mia. “The other filly never let her get comfortable out there.”
Maxim Rate started in a Grade 1 race for the fourth time in the Gamely. Prior to Monday, Maxim Rate’s best result in a race at that level was a second in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles last September.
Simon Callaghan trains Maxim Rate for the partnership of Slam Dunk Racing Stable, Stable Currency LLC, and James Branham. Maxim Rate, a 5-year-old mare by Exchange Rate, has won 6 of 16 starts and earned $587,185.
Maxim Rate has often raced as a stalker and the same sort of trip was key to success on Monday.
“Sometimes, it works out like you think,” Callaghan said. “She was in the perfect spot to pounce. That’s where we wanted to be.”