Take A Breath in good form for Gamely Stakes
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ARCADIA, Calif. - So Happy has rightfully dominated the headlines surrounding trainer Mark Glatt’s stable following the colt’s win in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby last month.
But the most successful filly in the barn this year has been Take A Breath, who has an excellent chance to win her third stakes of 2026 in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita on May 25.
Take A Breath is on a two-race winning streak, both Grade 3 stakes at Santa Anita – a nose victory in the $102,500 Santa Ana Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on March 15, her first career stakes win, and a half-length score in the $100,000 Royal Heroine Stakes at a mile on April 25.
In both races, Take A Breath closed from off the pace under jockey Emisael Jaramillo to reach the front late. The wins have left Glatt confident Take A Breath will be effective in the $300,000 Gamely at 1 1/8 miles on turf.
“The mile and an eighth will probably be up her alley,” Glatt said on Sunday morning.
Owned by Chivalry Thoroughbred Racing and Rancho Temescal Partners, Take A Breath has won 5 of 14 starts in her career, and 2 of 7 starts since arriving from Britain last summer. The Gamely will be her third start in a Grade 1 race. She was fourth by 1 3/4 lengths in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks last August in her first start in the United States, and fourth by two lengths in the Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita in December.
The recent wins have left Glatt hopeful Take A Breath can win a top-level race.
“She needed a bit of time to acclimate,” he said. “She had some tough trips.”
The Gamely Stakes is one of three major races on the May 25 program, along with the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf and Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup on dirt.
The candidates for the Gamely include Thought Process, the winner of the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes in February; the Florida shipper Hang the Moon, the winner of two Grade 2 stakes on turf in Southern California in 2024; and May Day Ready, a three-time stakes winner who was second by a half-length to Take A Breath in the Royal Heroine in her first start of the year.
So Happy finished ninth in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2 as the 5-1 third choice in a field of 18. He was second or third to the final furlong, before fading to finish 7 1/2 lengths behind Golden Tempo.
Glatt said that So Happy is currently galloping and will have a workout “probably next week.” He said no late spring or early summer race plans have been finalized.
Queen Maxima heads to the farm
Queen Maxima ended a busy spring campaign with her sixth career stakes win in Saturday’s Mizdirection Stakes for filly and mare sprinters on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita, a result that will lead to a brief vacation in central California.
“She’s going to the farm,” trainer Jeff Mullins said on Sunday morning.
Queen Maxima ended a two-race losing streak in the Mizdirection, closing from fifth in a field of nine to win by three-quarters of a length as the 6-5 favorite. She finished third as the 2-5 favorite in the Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita on April 4, and fourth by three lengths in the Grade 2 Unbridled Sidney Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 1.
The 15-day turnaround between the Unbridled Sidney and Mizdirection Stakes was the shortest gap between starts for Queen Maxima, who has won 9 of 16 starts and earned $722,060.
Mullins said Queen Maxima will not start at the Del Mar summer meeting, and is expected to resume racing this fall at Santa Anita. A 5-year-old mare, Queen Maxima races for Irving Ventures and Dutch Girl Holdings.
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