Maxim Rate, Raymundos Secret face off in Goldikova Stakes

Maxim Rate has won stakes at a mile and 1 3/8 miles and was a game second in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on Sept. 26 at Santa Anita.

Maxim Rate’s versatility will be vital to her chances in Sunday’s Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Santa Anita. Maxim Rate’s main rival is Raymundos Secret, who is equally as sharp, having won two starts at the Del Mar summer meeting, including the Grade 2 John Mabee Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf Sept. 5 from the front.

The two 4-year-old fillies meet for the second time in the $200,000 Goldikova, a matchup that could lead to starts in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes on Nov. 29 at Del Mar.

Sunday’s 11-race program begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific and is closing day of the Santa Anita autumn meeting. There will be a mandatory payout in the Rainbow 6. The Del Mar autumn meeting begins Oct 31.

Maxim Rate and Raymundos Secret were sixth and eighth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in August 2019. Since then, Maxim Rate has won 2 of 6 starts, while Raymundos Secret has won 3 of 4 races.

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They start in adjacent stalls in the $200,000 Goldikova as part of a field of seven. There are two other 2020 stakes winners in the field – New York shipper Atomic Blonde and recent Italian import Silberpfeil. Tonahutu, who starts from the outside, was second by a nose in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Aug. 8 at Del Mar.

Chances are Maxim Rate and Raymundos Secret will not be far apart. Raymundos Secret can set the pace, while Maxim Rate is effective as a stalker.

In the days after Maxim Rate’s second in the Rodeo Drive, she was not considered a candidate for the Goldikova.

“We were thinking of waiting and going straight to the Matriarch, but she came out of the last race so well,” trainer Simon Callaghan said. “We felt she forced our hand to run.”

Owned by Slam Dunk Racing and James Branham, Maxim Rate won a second-condition optional claimer at a mile on turf July 10 in her second start of 2020. In June 2019, she won the Grade 3 Senorita Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on turf at Santa Anita.

Those races give Callaghan confidence Maxim Rate can handle a mile Sunday.

“Although she won at a mile and three-eighths, it was right at her limit, but she was the class of the field,” Callaghan said. “Maybe if you had a choice, you would prefer [this] to be a mile and an eighth. The good thing, she is versatile.”

Raymundos Secret, owned by Sierra Racing and Sterling Stables, won her 2020 debut in a second-condition optional claimer at a mile on turf Aug. 14, closing from fourth. In the John Mabee, Raymundos Secret led by two lengths with a furlong remaining and repelled a late challenge from Lady Prancealot.

“She can sit or she can control the pace,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “With maturity, she’s relaxed more. I think that has helped her finish.”