Princesa Moche tops off stellar January for O'Neill

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Doug O’Neill capped a successful January with a victory by Princesa Moche in Saturday’s Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes for fillies and mares on turf at Santa Anita.

Princesa Moche, a 6-year-old Peruvian-bred mare, was O’Neill’s 15th win of the month. Through Sunday, he led the trainer standings at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.

Princesa Moche was favored in the $102,000 Megahertz, a role that seemed far-fetched when she was imported from South America last summer.

Owned by Rancho San Roberto, Princesa Moche was seventh and sixth in her first two starts in California at Del Mar and Santa Anita in August and September. She has since won three of her last four starts, with the loss a second at 16-1 in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes on the hillside turf course on Jan. 11.

What makes Princesa Moche’s success even more remarkable is her durability. She has won 12 of 39 starts. In 2025, she had 14 starts in Peru and California, winning six races.

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“They run often down there,” O’Neill said. “She’s flourished.”

In the one-mile Megahertz, Princesa Moche was always near the front and won by a neck at 5-2 over the fast-closing Vibez. O’Neill said Sunday that he does not have a race goal for Princesa Moche. The next stakes in the filly and mare turf division at Santa Anita is the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes, a $200,000 race at a mile on Feb. 28.

Saturday’s win was Princesa Moche’s second at a mile in California. She won an allowance race at the distance at 19-1 at Del Mar in November.

“They weren’t sure she could run two turns,” O’Neill said. “She proved it.”

This weekend at Santa Anita, O’Neill has expected starters in two of the four stakes on Saturday – Robusta in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile, and Hypergamy and Light Won Up in the $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.

The other two stakes on Saturday are the Grade 2 D. Wayne Lukas for fillies and mares at seven furlongs and the Grade 3 Thunder Road for older turf milers.

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