Queen Maxima seeks first stakes win in Wishing Well

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bettors cannot get enough of streaking female turf sprinter Queen Maxima, an odds-on winner of recent allowance races and a short price again Saturday in the $100,000 Wishing Well Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.

A month after she dominated the fastest hillside race of the meet, Queen Maxima seeks her first stakes victory Saturday when she switches to the main turf oval for the six-furlong Wishing Well. Queen Maxima is listed at 3-5 on the morning line against five rivals, including multiple stakes winner Stay and Scam, Group 3 winner Laulne, and longshot late-runner Miss Roberts.

They’re all running for second if Queen Maxima reproduces her last start. Trainer Jeff Mullins expects her to run even better. “I don’t think we’ve seen the best of her yet,” Mullins said. He has not been wrong yet about Queen Maxima, who touted herself prior to her debut last summer.

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“Reylu Guterriez was working her at Del Mar and said, ‘This is a good horse,’ ” Mullins recalled. In her Aug. 10 debut at five furlongs on turf, she broke last from the rail, weaved through traffic, and won going away. “Every door that opened, she took me through,” Gutierrez said.

Except for a two-turn misfire second time out, Queen Maxima improved each subsequent start, including a dominating victory last out under Juan Hernandez. Her 3 1/2-length allowance win in 1:11.73 was the fastest of 10 hillside sprints this meet.

Despite inclement weather, Queen Maxima hit every mark since her last race. “She’s been able to work on the training track, so she hasn’t missed a beat,” Mullins said. The issue for Queen Maxima, a 3-for-6 filly by Bucchero, is the inside post. But she has tactical speed, and a late kick. “She has gears,” Mullins said.

Stay and Scam is more accomplished, having won six of 18 starts, including two California-bred stakes. Trained by Doug O’Neill, Stay and Scam drew post 5, where jockey Frankie Dettori has the option of setting or pressing the pace.

Laulne, a Group 3 winner in France and stakes winner at Santa Anita, hopes for better fortune than her Jan. 19 comeback. Laulne broke last in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas and stayed there. Phil D’Amato trains Laulne, who drops in class Saturday. The Wishing Well is restricted to fillies and mares that have not won a graded stakes since Aug. 1, 2024. Flavien Prat rides Laulne from post 2.

Though wagering value is minimal with a legitimate odds-on favorite in a six-runner field, the exacta would be okay if Queen Maxima’s longshot stablemate outruns her 10-1 odds. Mullins trains both Queen Maxima and Miss Roberts, runner-up in an entry-level allowance that was her first start in more than three months.

“I’m going to run [Miss Roberts], and see if we can get a little black type on her,” Mullins said. Miss Roberts might prefer two turns, but her sprint comeback was solid and she’ll be rallying late under Hector Berrios.

The Wishing Well, named after the dam of Sunday Silence, is race 3 Saturday on a 10-race card.

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