GII Santa Maria S.

The sun is shining and the birds are singing, which means that spring has sprung and hopefully cold blasts are fixed over yonder. This kind of weather propagates the condition known to many as Derby fever, which technically has no definable cure. So, while you're tinkering with mint julep recipes or heading to the dry cleaners with your seersucker to keep the vapors in check, maybe what you need is to take a look at the weekend's graded stakes slate. The races are chock full of options, so let's not...

Coffee in Bed just got her neck in front of pacesetting Super Shine on the line to earn the first graded victory of her career in the GII Santa Maria S. at Santa Anita Sunday evening. The dark bay filly settled off the pace while shadowing favorite Desert Dawn as a four-way battle for the lead developed around the first turn. Super Shine asserted control into the backstretch as the quarter went up in :22.66. Desert Dawn and Coffee in Bed moved in tandem, four and five wide, to loom...

Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith's As Time Goes By (American Pharoah) aired by 9 1/4 lengths in her latest start in the Apr. 24 GII Santa Margarita S., however, she had to work a lot harder when nosing out 23-1 longshot This Tea (Curlin) in Saturday's GII Santa Maria S. at Santa Anita. Breaking from the outside of a four-horse field, the 4-year-old allowed Miss Stormy D (Tapizar) to assume the helm through opening fractions of :23.83 and :47.12. Given the cue by Mike Smith at the...