Splendora, Queen Maxima staying local for next starts

The multiple stakes winners Queen Maxima and Splendora have had successful starts to their 2026 seasons at Santa Anita, and have local stakes as next-race goals in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Splendora won her third consecutive stakes in the Grade 2 D. Wayne Lukas Stakes for fillies and mares last Saturday in a prep race for the Grade 1 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile for fillies and mares on March 7.

“That would be the most logical spot for her,” trainer Bob Baffert said last weekend.

The Beholder Mile is part of a highly anticipated program that includes the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap for older horses. With a purse of $300,000, the Beholder Mile is the leading race for fillies and mares on dirt in California in the first half of the year.

Owned by Michael Talla, Splendora has won 6 of 11 starts in a career highlighted by a win in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar last November. The D. Wayne Lukas Stakes is her only subsequent start.

Splendora was a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding female sprinter of 2025, but lost the award to Shisopicy, who beat males in the BC Turf Sprint in November.

“She’s really improved,” Baffert said of Splendora. “It’s too bad she didn’t get champion. She’s that good.”

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Splendora’s stakes win streak began in the restricted Tranquility Lake Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar in September, a race she won by 5 1/2 lengths after leading throughout.

Overall, Splendora has won her last four starts, including an allowance race at six furlongs at Del Mar in July.

“She’ll go two turns,” Baffert said. “She’s just a really good horse.”

The $200,500 Lukas Stakes was previously known as the Santa Monica Stakes, and was renamed last year in honor of the late Hall of Fame trainer.

“When I saw it was renamed, I said, ‘Oh, I’ll win that one,’ ” Baffert said in the winner’s circle last weekend. “I really miss him. I miss talking to him.

“It’s a good race, a proper race. He would have loved it.”

Queen Maxima has thrived in turf sprints in the last year, winning five stakes in the division in California and Kentucky. In her last start on Jan. 11, Queen Maxima won the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course for her eighth win in 13 starts.

Mullins said last weekend that Queen Maxima’s next appearance is likely to be the Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes for fillies and mares on the hillside turf course on April 4.

“She’s way better with time between races,” Mullins said.

The Monrovia is on the same program as the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.

Owned by Irving Ventures and Dutch Girl Holdings, Queen Maxima, 5, has earned $630,460.

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