Sweet Azteca continues to rule Great Lady M.
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CYPRESS, Calif. - There was a familiar outcome to the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares at Los Alamitos on Saturday. For the third consecutive year, Sweet Azteca was impossible to catch in the stretch of the race at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Sweet Azteca won the 2024 running by five lengths in a track-record time of 1:14.33. She won the 2025 race by 1 1/2 lengths in record time of 1:14.32.
On Saturday, a heavily favored Sweet Azteca ($3.40) won by 1 1/4 lengths over 6-1 Magnificat, finishing in 1:15.67. Sweet Azteca earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 87.
The $201,000 Great Lady M. Stakes was Sweet Azteca’s first start since a win in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at Del Mar last August. Owned and bred by Pamela Ziebarth and trained by Richard Baltas, Sweet Azteca was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar last November because of a foot issue.
In Saturday’s race, Sweet Azteca started from the inside post in a field of seven and disputed the early pace with 19-1 A.Z. Wildcat, who ran an opening quarter-mile in 21.84 seconds. Ridden by Armando Ayuso, Sweet Azteca led by two lengths after a half-mile in 43.81.
Ayuso, riding Sweet Azteca for the first time in a race, said the 6-year-old mare was comfortable through a quick tempo.
“I wasn’t expecting to go that fast,” Ayuso said. “It’s really hard to take it away from her.
“She showed me in the morning that she’s like that. She doesn’t show the pace she’s going.”
Sweet Azteca led by two lengths with a furlong remaining.
“I thought she was waiting for company and getting a little tired,” Ayuso said of the stretch run. “But she got it done, and took me to the wire.”
Magnificat, winner of the Desert Stormer Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs at Santa Anita on June 11, closed from fifth to finish three-quarters of a length in front of 5-1 Nooni.
Magnificat led throughout the Desert Stormer, but won an allowance race on turf at Santa Anita in May from off the pace. Jockey Antonio Fresu said Magnificat struggled to keep pace early in the Great Lady M. Stakes.
“When she got comfortable around the turn, she got better and better,” Fresu said. “She’s run a nice race. I think the winner was much the best.”
Nooni, in her first start since a fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos in December 2024, was followed in the order of finish by Prancingthruparis, Grand Slam Smile, A Thousand Miles and A.Z. Wildcat.
Grand Slam Smile, the winner of five stakes for statebred fillies and mares in the last year, was never a factor and was beaten four lengths. A Thousand Miles leapt in the air at the start.
Sweet Azteca, who is by Sharp Azteca, has won 8 of 10 starts and earned $787,200. Aside from three runnings of the Great Lady M. Stakes, Sweet Azteca’s biggest win was the Grade 1 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita in March 2024.
Ayuso gained the mount when Juan Hernandez received a seven-day suspension for incorrect use of the whip at Royal Ascot last month. Hernandez’s suspension began on Friday and continues through July 9.
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