ARCADIA, Calif. – Considering her status as a heavy favorite for Saturday’s Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita, it is remarkable to consider the early impressions Queen Maxima gave trainer Jeff Mullins. Queen Maxima, briefly in training in 2023, had a delayed start to her career, winning her debut at Del Mar in the summer of 2024. “She got turned out twice,” Mullins recalled recently. “She had a little of this and a little of that. We didn’t think she was a whole lot.” Well, opinions have changed. Queen Maxima, owned by Ruben Islas and Michele Arthur, who race as Dutch Girl Holdings and Irving Ventures, has won 8 of 13 starts and earned $630,460. Queen Maxima has won five sprint stakes on turf in her last seven starts, including the 2025 Monrovia and her lone appearance this year, the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes in January. :: Santa Anita Classic Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, Clocker Reports, and more. The $100,000 Monrovia Stakes is run at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course. Queen Maxima has won 3 of 4 career starts on the hillside course. On Saturday, she will be ridden by Juan Hernandez, who has had the mount in seven of her wins. “I told him, ‘I think you can ride her with your eyes closed,’ ” Mullins said. Tactically, Queen Maxima is a danger. She led throughout the 2025 Monrovia but won the Senator Ken Maddy Stakes at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar last October by closing from sixth of seven. “You can go to the lead or sit off the pace,” Mullins said. Last spring, Queen Maxima followed her win in the Monrovia Stakes with a commanding win by 3 1/2 lengths in the Grade 3 Unbridled Sidney at 5 1/2 furlongs at Churchill. The same race, now a Grade 2 worth $500,000 on May 1, is on Queen Maxima’s schedule. Queen Maxima is part of a field of seven in the Monrovia, and one of five fillies and mares in the field with stakes wins since the beginning of 2025. Tirupati won the Grade 3 Wilshire Stakes at a mile on turf in March 2025. The Monrovia is her first start since a troubled seventh in the Grade 3 Royal Heroine Stakes last April. Love Appeals, trained in Florida by Miguel Clement, is a three-time stakes winner who’s effective as a stalker. She won the Incredible Revenge Stakes for turf sprinters for the second consecutive year at Monmouth Park last summer. Princesa Moche was second in the Las Cienegas and won the Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes at a mile on turf in February. She disappointed when fifth of six in the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes at a mile on turf on Feb. 28. Princesa Moche set the pace in the Las Cienegas and could easily have that role in the Monrovia. Spirited Boss, who drew the outside post, won the Sanibel Island Stakes at 7 1/2 furlongs on turf at Gulfstream Park in March 2025 but is winless in three subsequent stakes. The other runners are the outsiders Amorita and Sareeha. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.