Miss Bigly no sure thing in Santa Margarita, but you know she'll run her race

ARCADIA, Calif. – Short on quality and long on quantity, nine fillies and mares entered the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, including one of the most dependable stakes mares in California.

Miss Bigly merits tepid favoritism in the 1 1/8-mile Santa Margarita, race 10. Except for the favorite, the $200,000 race attracted an allowance-caliber field. Miss Bigly is a Grade 3 winner who has finished in the money in her last 10 starts, including four wins.

“That’s her – she’s a model of consistency,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “She’s there, and she’s going to give it to you every time. She’s in peak form right now.”

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Runner-up last out to now-retired As Time Goes By in a Grade 1, Miss Bigly faces a modest field Saturday, with each of her opponents hoping to enhance residual broodmare value by winning a graded race. Miss Bigly is the only entrant with a U.S. graded win against older.

Her rivals include improving second-level allowance winner Park Avenue, minor stakes winner Sharapova, Argentina Group 1 winner Blue Stripe, and Varda, who won a Grade 1 as a juvenile in 2020. The field also includes longshot Midnight Jamboree, streaking Bye Bye Bertie, Lisette, and Bellamore.

Miss Bigly could give jockey Ramon Vazquez his first graded win at Santa Anita. He rode Miss Bigly to a Grade 3 win at Oaklawn Park two starts back prior to finishing second on her in the Beholder Mile at Santa Anita. Miss Bigly, a 6-year-old sibling to Grade 1 winner Fashion Plate, has won eight races and $741,242 from 27 starts.

Upset candidate Park Avenue has been a work in progress for trainer John Sadler, and at age 4, the daughter of Quality Road is finally putting it all together. She enters off a front-running second-level allowance win on turf.

“She’s kind of quirky,” Sadler said. “We’ve had some things with her that we’re trying to figure out. I don’t think I’ve seen the best of her yet, and I still think she can run on any surface.”

Park Avenue dominated a turf route last out, winning by nearly three lengths with a career-high 90 Beyer. Juan Hernandez rides 3-for-9 Park Avenue, who figures to be among the front-runners if not on the lead outright.

Midnight Jamboree enters with an upset chance, despite her third last out as the odds-on favorite in an entry-level allowance.

“Throw it out,” trainer Bill Spawr said. “She was out wide the whole way, and she doesn’t want to go that fast.”

Mike Smith rides Midnight Jamboree, who is not the most accomplished in the field, but at 17 hands probably is the biggest. She has won 3 of 11.

Speed-figure handicapping is less relevant in this year’s Santa Margarita, because no one in the field is fast. The 94 Beyer earned by Miss Bigly one year ago is the field’s highest number. The past three decades, every Santa Margarita was won with a Beyer of 95 or higher.