Lael Stables' Hawksmoor (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}) has tried on seven occasions to get a Grade I/Group 1 victory. Time after time, she's come tantalizingly close without tasting victory.
There was the third by a head after leading past the sixteenth pole in the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S., her North American debut. There was the second after leading for most of the GI First Lady S. There was another runner-up effort after widening past the eighth pole in the GI Matriarch S. Saturday, the bay mare will get another chance at that fleeting prize as the likely heavy favorite in Santa Anita's GI Gamely S.
Victress of the GII New York S. and GIII Beaugay S. last spring, Hawksmoor comes into this affair off three straight second-place runs, and will need to bounce back after disappointing as the 3-10 favorite in Laurel's Dahlia S. in her seasonal debut Apr. 21.
The top local hope appears to be Slam Dunk Racing and Medallion Racing's Beau Recall (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}). Just missing when second by a nose in last summer's GI Del Mar Oaks, the bay picked up her first graded tally when closing from last to take the GII Royal Heroine S. here Apr. 7.
Mopotism (Uncle Mo), a Grade II winner and three times Grade I-placed on the main track, tries the turf for the first time and may just like the new underfoot conditions. Her sire is responsible for five graded/group winners on the grass thus far, including the recently retired 2017 GI Hollywood Derby winner Mo Town, who–like Mopotism–was produced by a Bernardini mare. Mopotism was a latest well-beaten third behind Fault (Blame) in the Mar. 17 GI Santa Margarita S.
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