Tamara's comeback delayed; won't make Great Lady M.

The Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 6 will not include the 2023 Grade 1 winner Tamara.

Trainer Richard Mandella said on Monday that he was unsatisfied with Tamara’s latest workout on May 25 and will instead prepare the 3-year-old filly for a comeback at the Del Mar summer meeting, which begins on July 20.

Tamara won the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante last September and was later seventh as the 4-5 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita in November, her most recent start. Tamara was diagnosed with a splint bone injury after the BC Juvenile Fillies. She resumed training earlier this year.

“I’m going to back off and point for Del Mar,” Mandella said. “I wasn’t happy with the last work. Maybe I’m pushing her too fast.

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“I didn’t think she worked as good as she should have.”

Tamara worked five furlongs in 1:00 on May 25. She had a steady pattern of workouts from early April to May 25.

Owned by Spendthrift Farm, Tamara rapidly developed a following last year. She is by Bolt d’Oro and is out of the four-time champion Beholder, who was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 2022.

The $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes, run at 6 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares, is expected to include Chismosa, the winner of Sunday’s $100,500 Desert Stormer Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs at Santa Anita.

Chismosa closed from fifth in a field of six to edge Richi, a two-time Group 1 winner in Chile in 2023 who had her American debut on Sunday for trainer Bob Baffert.

Last July, Chismosa was beaten a neck in the Great Lady M. Stakes as a 3-year-old. The Desert Stormer Stakes was her fourth career stakes win, and second of the year, for owner and breeder Jaime Renella and trainer Rafael DeLeon, who has a four-horse stable based at Los Alamitos.

“It’s her home court,” Renella said of Los Alamitos. “We know she can run on dirt very well. It’s something to look forward to and it’s spaced out perfectly. She’s always been that iron horse. She didn’t come back tired.”

Chismosa, a 4-year-old California-bred by Clubhouse Ride, has won 5 of 18 starts and earned $501,750.

The Great Lady M. field may include Sweet Azteca and Three Witches, trainer Michael McCarthy said on Sunday.

Sweet Azteca was third behind Chismosa in the Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 1 and later won the Grade 1 Beholder Mile in March. Sweet Azteca was briefly sidelined earlier this year after she sustained a cut on a knee. She resumed workouts in mid-May.

Three Witches, winner of the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita in February, finished seventh of 10 in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 4. She resumed workouts at Santa Anita in late May.

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