Sweet Azteca will stay home for the summer
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DEL MAR, Calif. - Sweet Azteca, the brilliant winner of the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 5 in her first start of 2025, will remain in California this summer.
Trainer Richard Baltas said on Sunday that Sweet Azteca is scheduled to run in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 24. The $100,000 Rancho Bernardo Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs is the track’s leading summertime sprint for fillies and mares.
Earlier this month, Sweet Azteca was mentioned as a possible candidate for the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 23, a $500,000 race at seven furlongs for fillies and mares.
The long-range goal with Sweet Azteca is the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 1. The chance to have a prep race over the same track is appealing, Baltas said.
“You’re running on the track you’ll run on in the Breeders’ Cup and that’s a plus,” Baltas said. “I know she likes it down here. She doesn’t like a lot of heat.”
Baltas hinted on Sunday that the Rancho Bernardo Stakes may be Sweet Azteca’s lone start before the BC Filly and Mare Sprint.
“There’s nothing wrong with waiting two months to run a horse, especially after they run so hard and fast,” Baltas said.
“We’ll let her tell us what to do. We’re in a good position now.”
On Sunday, Sweet Azteca worked five furlongs in 59.20 seconds, her first workout since a win in the Great Lady M. Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths over another top female sprinter in Kopion. Sweet Azteca ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.32 to lower her own track record of 1:14.33 set in the 2024 Great Lady M. Stakes.
Owned by Pamela Ziebarth, the 5-year-old Sweet Azteca has won 6 of 8 starts and earned $607,200. Sweet Azteca has won four stakes, including a seven-length victory in the Rancho Bernardo Stakes last August when she was trained by Michael McCarthy.
Ziebarth transferred Sweet Azteca to Baltas last winter.
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