Sweet Azteca likely will cut back to one turn in Derby City Distaff

ARCADIA, Calif. – Sweet Azteca’s win in Saturday’s Grade 1, $301,000 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita has trainer Michael McCarthy and owner and breeder Pamela Ziebarth thinking of more lucrative prizes for the upstart 4-year-old filly.

On Sunday, McCarthy said Sweet Azteca will be considered for the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs on the May 4 Kentucky Derby program. The Derby City Distaff is run at seven furlongs and is worth $1 million.

Through the year, McCarthy said Sweet Azteca’s campaign will be designed with the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at seven furlongs on Nov. 2 at Del Mar as a late season goal.

McCarthy described Sweet Azteca’s best distance as “seven-eighths to a mile.”

“It was an important step to get a Grade 1 and win around two turns,” McCarthy said of the Beholder Mile.

By Sharp Azteca, Sweet Azteca has won 3 of 4 starts and earned $301,200.

Sweet Azteca, the 3-1 second choice, led throughout the Beholder Mile and won by three-quarters of a length over 11-10 favorite Adare Manor. Sweet Azteca set a relatively slow pace, including a half-mile in 47.40 seconds.

:: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports

The Beholder Mile was Adare Manor’s first start since a seventh-place finish by three lengths in the BC Distaff at Santa Anita last November. Trained by Bob Baffert, Adare Manor was a four-time graded stakes winner in 2023, including the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar last summer.

In the Beholder Mile, Adare Manor stalked the pace while racing on the inside to early stretch. She closed steadily to be closest to the front at the finish.

“She showed up,” Baffert said. “She didn’t get the trip we would have liked. That’s a nice filly that beat her.”

In the weeks before Sweet Azteca’s potential start in the Derby City Distaff, McCarthy has stakes plans in Kentucky for two other recent California stakes winners.

Endlessly, winner of the El Camino Real Derby on the synthetic main track at Golden Gate Fields on Feb. 10, is scheduled to run in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks on the synthetic track at Turfway Park on March 23. The $700,000 Ruby is run at 1 1/8 miles.

McCarthy said Sunday that Umberto Rispoli will have the mount. Rispoli, based at Santa Anita, rode Endlessly for the first time in the El Camino Real Derby.

Endlessly earned a fees-paid berth to the Preakness Stakes on May 18 at Pimlico by winning the El Camino Real Derby. Golden Gate Fields and Pimlico are both owned by 1/ST Racing.

Three Witches, winner of the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at seven furlongs for fillies and mares on Feb. 3 at Santa Anita, is a candidate for the Grade 1 Madison Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs at Keeneland. The $600,000 Madison Stakes is one of the nation’s leading races for female sprinters in the spring.

“I’m excited to see what she can do,” McCarthy said.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.