Sweet Azteca sets track record with Great Lady M. victory

CYPRESS, Calif. - For a filly who had not raced in nearly four months, Sweet Azteca delivered one of the sharpest races of her career with a record-setting performance in Saturday’s Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares at Los Alamitos.

Ridden by Juan Hernandez, Sweet Azteca stalked pacesetter Daddysruby to the top of the stretch. Sweet Azteca pulled clear to win by five lengths without being urged in the final strides.

Sent off favored, Sweet Azteca ($3.40) ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.33, lowering the track record. Sweet Azteca earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 106.

Finest City held the previous mark of 1:14.48, set in the 2016 Great Lady M. Finest City won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint later that year, a season in which she was honored as the champion female sprinter.

Sweet Azteca was well positioned throughout Saturday’s $202,500 Great Lady M. Stakes. Daddysruby (7-1) zoomed away from the gate, leaving Sweet Azteca in second by a half-length through an early pace of 21.65 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 43.96 for a half-mile.

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Daddysruby “is really fast out of the gate,” Hernandez said. “My filly is really fast, too. I sat outside to get a better position. I was happy with my position.

“At the three-eighths pole, I was waiting. I didn’t want to make my move too soon.

“She took off. All the credit to her.”

Sweet Azteca led by a length in the stretch, and increased her advantage through the final furlong.

Sweet Azteca and Daddysruby were well clear of the trailing runners. There was a seven-length gap between Daddysruby and 14-1 Super Shine, who broke slowly and closed from last of 10 to finish third.

Daddysruby, the winner of the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita last December when ridden by Hernandez, was ridden on Saturday by Reylu Gutierrez, who recently relocated from Kentucky to California.

The remaining order of finish on Saturday was Olivia Twist, Getthemoney, Irish Wahine, Chismosa, Anywho, Yuki and Three Witches.

Sweet Azteca, who has won three consecutive starts, races for owner and breeder Pamela Ziebarth and trainer Michael McCarthy. Sweet Azteca has won 4 of 5 starts and earned $431,200. The win on Saturday was worth $120,000.

Sweet Azteca was third in the Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 1, in her first start since May 2023.

She has not lost since. Sweet Azteca won an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Feb. 2 and won the Grade 1 Beholder Mile for fillies and mares on March 9 by three-quarters of a length over the multiple stakes winner Adare Manor.

By Sharp Azteca, Sweet Azteca was scheduled to run in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 4 until she was briefly sidelined with a knee injury sustained in her stall. Sweet Azteca resumed workouts in mid-May and had a steady pattern of workouts leading to Saturday’s race.

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