Queen Bee to You likely to target Santa Monica

ARCADIA, Calif. – Queen Bee to You won her third consecutive stakes in Saturday’s Grade 3 La Canada Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita and is likely to revert to sprinting for the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at seven furlongs on Feb. 15.

“That’s probably the plan,” trainer Andrew Lerner said on Sunday. “I think seven-eighths is her best distance. A mile and a sixteenth is probably pushing it.”

Queen Bee to You, who races for Christopher St. Hilaire and Adam Vali, won her third consecutive stakes in the $200,500 La Canada, preceded by a win in the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Los Alamitos last month and the Betty Grable Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares at Del Mar in November.

Lerner was particularly impressed with Queen Bee to You’s 4 1/2-length win in the seven-furlong Betty Grable. “Her best race was the Betty Grable,” he said.

In the La Canada, Queen Bee to You fought through the stretch with Der Lu before taking the lead in the final strides to prevail by a nose in a thrilling finish.

“That was a good, old-fashioned horse race,” Lerner said.

Queen Bee to You, a 6-year-old mare by Old Topper, has won 8 of 33 starts and earned $658,770. She is expected to race through 2020 before being bred in 2021.

“This will be her last year,” Lerner said.