Santa Margarita winner Blue Stripe targets Santa Maria
ARCADIA, Calif. - Blue Stripe, winner of the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes in her 2022 debut on April 30, will have one more start before the conclusion of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on June 19.
Trainer Marcelo Polanco said last weekend that Blue Stripe will start in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes, a $200,000 race for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on June 18. The Santa Margarita Stakes was run at 1 1/8 miles.
Blue Stripe was a Group 1 winner at 1 1/4 miles in Argentina in May 2021 and was seventh of 11 in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in her American debut at Del Mar last November. In the Santa Margarita, Blue Stripe closed from fifth in a field of nine to win by a length at 6-1.
Polanco said Blue Stripe recovered quickly.
“She never backed off her feed, very alert,” Polanco said. “That’s what you like to see. It went good for us.”
Owned by Pozo de Luna, Blue Stripe, a 5-year-old Argentine-bred mare by Equal Stripes, has won 5 of 8 starts and earned $181,882.