Waters get deeper in next start for undefeated Gratefully

ARCADIA, Calif. – Gratefully extended her unbeaten streak to five races with a hard-fought win in the Wishing Well Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday. Gaining a sixth consecutive win will not be easy, however.

Trainer Robert Falcone Jr. said on Sunday that Gratefully will be considered for two stakes in early April – the Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita on April 4, or the Grade 2 Giant’s Causeway Stakes at Keeneland on April 12.

Either race will present a fierce test.

The $100,000 Monrovia Stakes, run at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course, is expected to draw Queen Maxima, who won the 2025 Wishing Well and four other stakes in the last year.

The $400,000 Giant’s Causeway Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs should have a nationally prominent field that may include Shisospicy, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar last November, trainer Jose D’Angelo wrote in a text message on Sunday.

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Gratefully has certainly earned a chance to start in a graded stakes. Owned by Adelphi Stable and Russell and Shelly Hume, Gratefully won three times in New York last summer and fall and has won twice at Santa Anita this winter.

Falcone said Gratefully’s next start depends to an extent on where he is stabled in coming months. Falcone said he has 20 horses in New York and five in California. The California stable must grow considerably to justify having divisions on both coasts, he said.

“I’d like to have a year-round presence here,” Falcone said in the Santa Anita stable area on Sunday. “I can’t stay out here with a handful of horses.”

Gratefully made her stakes debut in the Wishing Well, which was restricted to non-winners of a graded stakes since Aug. 1.

Gratefully set the pace in the Wishing Well, and won by a head over 5-2 Saratoga Special, who offered a challenge through the stretch.

“A horse came to her and she wouldn’t let it pass,” Falcone said. “Not many do that.

“I think she’s matured a lot mentally and physically in the last few months.”

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