Rose Maddox to Great Lady M. Stakes
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Rose Maddox finished seventh in a field of eight in the Soviet Problem Stakes in her first career start at Los Alamitos in December 2021.
So much has changed for Rose Maddox in the last 18 months. A two-time stakes winner earlier this year, Rose Maddox is expected to return to Los Alamitos for the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs on July 4.
She rates as an outsider to follow in what should be a solid field. Fun to Dream, winner of the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita in February, and Dance to the Music, winner of the Grade 3 Desert Stormer Stakes at Santa Anita in March, are two leading contenders.
Rose Maddox, trained by Steve Miyadi for owner and breeder Nick Alexander, has won two stakes at Golden Gate Fields this year – the Moscow Burning Stakes for statebred fillies and mares at a mile in January and the Golden Poppy Stakes against open company on turf on April 29.
A winner of five races from 15 starts, the 4-year-old Rose Maddox closed well to finish second by a half-length in the Fran’s Valentine Stakes for statebred fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on May 28.
Miyadi and Alexander considered a start in the $75,000 She’s a Tiger Stakes at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton last Saturday for Rose Maddox, but Alexander said Miyadi is confident the $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes is a better fit.
“We passed on a race I thought we could win,” Alexander said on Monday. Steve “is determined to run in the Great Lady M.”
Alexander and Miyadi won the 2022 Great Lady M. with Becca Taylor. Alexander thinks this year’s field may be tougher.
“Of course, you don’t know from the nominations to the entries,” he said
Rose Maddox is a closer. In her last main track sprint, she rallied from last of four to finish second to stablemate Alice Marble in the Irish O’Brien Stakes for statebred fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita in March.
The stretch at Los Alamitos is more than a quarter-mile in length and could suit a closer such as Rose Maddox.
Alice Marble, Becca Taylor, and Connie Swingle, a two-time stakes winner owned by Alexander and trained by Phil D’Amato, are in training to race in the second half of this year.
“The balance of the year looks positive,” Alexander said.
Becca Taylor has not started since the 2022 Great Lady M. and worked a quarter-mile in 25.60 seconds on Sunday.
Alexander said Becca Taylor has had a disrupted comeback.
“She’s finally back in training,” Alexander said. “When she started back, she didn’t have her mojo. Steve wasn’t happy with the way she was traveling.
“She hasn’t run in a year. She lost an awful lot of time. I could use her on the team right now.”
Connie Swingle, unraced since a second at 4-5 in the Sen. Ken Maddy Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in October, is nearing the first breeze of her comeback.
Alice Marble was given a 30-day rest after the win in the Irish O’Brien and has rejoined D’Amato’s stable.
“She’s back in and put some weight on,” Alexander said. “She needed a little freshening.”
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