Santa Anita: Up In Time will cut back in Monrovia

Up In Time won two graded stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 2011, a season that ended on a frightening note. She clipped heels and unseated jockey Martin Garcia in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park on Nov. 25, a scare for the partners that own the filly and trainer Simon Callaghan.

“She all but fell,” Callaghan said. “The rider had no chance of staying on.”

Fortunately, Garcia and Up In Time were not injured in the incident. They will be reunited for Monday’s $100,000 Monrovia Stakes over about 6 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares on the hillside turf course.

The Grade 3 Monrovia will be Up In Time’s first sprint since a win in an allowance race over six furlongs on turf at Hollywood Park last May. Callaghan is confident Up In Time can handle the course and distance. Last April, Up In Time was a troubled third in an allowance race on the hillside course.

“She’s got lots of natural speed, and I don’t think it will be a problem,” Callaghan said. “She ran down the hill once and had trouble. She was probably the best filly on the day.”

Up In Time won the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap and Grade 3 Harold Ramser Stakes last year. The Matriarch was her first stakes race against older fillies and mares, a setback that left Callaghan wondering what could have been.

“She was just making a move when that happened,” he said of the incident.

In the Monrovia, Up In Time is part of a strong field of 11. The race is led by defending champion Unzip Me, who has won nine stakes.