Honeymoon Preview: Going Global, Madone Make for Excitement

ARCADIA, CA – Trainers Phil D’Amato’s Going Global and Simon Callaghan’s Madone – each undefeated in California – make for an exciting matchup in Saturday’s $100,000 Honeymoon Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park.

The Honeymoon is a 1 1/8-mile turf route restricted to 3-year-old fillies. This year’s edition is the seventh event on a 9-race card and has a local post time of 4:00 PM.

Here’s a look at the full field for the Honeymoon:

1. Majestic Steps 30/1 – D’Amato’s other entry crossed the wire fifth in the local 1-mile Senorita Stakes (G3) 3 weeks ago behind fellow rivals Madone (the winner) and Golden, who finished second but was disqualified back to sixth for interference. She was a well-beaten third as the 4/5 favorite against allowance rivals in her only other attempt at this distance and owns just 1 victory from 9 career starts.

2. Quattroelle 5/1 – She adds blinkers for her third start of the form cycle, a 30% winning move for trainer Jeff Mullins who saddled her to finish third in March’s local 1-mile China Doll Stakes and fifth in April’s Providencia Stakes (G3) over this course and distance. She won the 1-mile Blue Norther Stakes over this course on December 31 but has failed to reproduce that same form as a 3-year-old.

3. Golden 8/1 – The first of two entries from Richard Mandella’s Hall of Fame barn rallied from last and crossed second in the Senorita but was disqualified and placed sixth for interfering with a rival in the stretch. All 4 career starts (1 win, 1 third) came in turf mile routes, she’s bred to handle this extra furlong, and jockey Umberto Rispoli – winner in 2 of his last 10 Santa Anita mounts for Mandella – hops aboard.

4. Midnight Diva 12/1 – She takes a major step up to the stakes ranks after breaking her maiden over this course and distance last time out in her first start (of 5 career) without blinkers. She set the early pace and held off her rivals in the stretch, a tactic that she’ll likely attempt to utilize once again for Preakness Stakes (G1)-winning trainer Michael McCarthy. Abel Cedillo remains the only race rider she’s known.

See the day’s full plays from Ricky’s Rockets!

5. Pizzazz 8/1 – Mandella’s second entry exits a hard-fought head victory in last month’s California Oaks, a 1 1/16-mile route on Golden Gate Fields’ synthetic main track. She broke her maiden in a 1-mile turf route at Del Mar last fall, but Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will likely need to coax a career-best effort out of her to contend here. Mandella and Smith won 7 of their past 28 shared local mounts (25%).

6. Going Global 6/5 – After winning 1 of 4 starts in her native Ireland, she’s aced every test since then for D’Amato and the meet’s leading rider Flavien Prat. Her 3 starts, all victories over this course, came in the 6-furlong Sweet Life Stakes (G3) (her stateside debut), the China Doll, and the Providencia, the latter at this distance. Her lowest Beyer Speed Figure (84) is higher than anyone else’s best.

7. Madone 9/5 – She kicked off her career winning 3 straight mile-long turf routes, including the Juvenile Fillies Turf Stakes at Del Mar and the local Surfer Girl Stakes, to earn her shot at the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) at Keeneland. While she only managed an eighth-place finish that day, she returned from nearly 6 months off to win the Senorita and is bred to handle the extra panel here.