Mrs. Astor as honest as they come
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ARCADIA, Calif. - What started last fall at Del Mar has continued through the winter and spring at Santa Anita. The 5-year-old mare Mrs. Astor thrives in distance stakes on turf.
On Saturday at Santa Anita, Mrs. Astor won her fourth stakes in her last five starts with a nose victory in the $100,500 Possibly Perfect Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles.
Owned by George Strawbridge Jr.’s Augustin Stable, Mrs. Astor won the Grade 3 Red Carpet Stakes at Del Mar and Grade 3 Robert Frankel Stakes at Santa Anita last November and December. Earlier this year, Mrs. Astor was second in the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes in March before rebounding to score a resounding five-length win in the Santa Barbara Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf on May 4. The Santa Ana and Santa Barbara were run at Santa Anita.
The record has left trainer Jonathan Thomas admiring Mrs. Astor’s dependability.
“I’ve trained better, but I don’t think I’ve trained one as consistent as her,” Thomas said at his stable on the Santa Anita backstretch Sunday morning.
“It’s a hard thing for a horse to do. She’s been very cool to have the last six or seven months.”
Mrs. Astor will stay in the turf marathon division for fillies and mares this summer. Her next objective will be the $100,000 CTT and TOC Stakes at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Del Mar on Aug. 15.
“The logical thing is the” CTT-TOC Stakes, Thomas said. “She’s found a good niche and I don’t want to get away from it.
“I love the spacing. We’ve got just over eight weeks to regroup and hopefully we can have her at her best for that race.”
Later this year, the schedule of distance turf stakes for older fillies and mares in California includes the Grade 2 Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 4. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
A race such as the Rodeo Drive could be on Mrs. Astor’s schedule, if she continues to win.
“There could be a time when she’s in peak form, we could step outside of her comfort zone and try something big,” Thomas said.
Thomas plans to have a stable of 20 to 25 runners at Del Mar, including Truly Quality, who won the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles there last November.
Unraced since a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes at Santa Anita in February, Truly Quality worked three furlongs in 37 seconds at Santa Anita on June 13.
Thomas raised the possibility that Truly Quality could start in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf on Aug. 30. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf on Nov. 1.
“Hopefully he can come back at Del Mar,” Thomas said. “We may train up to that.”
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