Maxim Rate (Exchange Rate) strode to the lead inside the final furlong and held off the late-closing duo of La Signare (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and Bodhicitta (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) to score the first Grade I victory of her career in the GI Gamely S. at Santa Anita Monday. Dismissed at 13-1, Maxim Rate rated kindly in fourth while racing one off the rail as heavily favored Charmaine's Mia (The Factor) took the field through fractions of :22.82 and :45.94. Maxim Rate ranged up three wide at the top of the stretch and closed determinedly down the lane, reeling in the tiring pacesetter before holding the late runners safe to the wire.
“We knew she was training really well coming into this race,” said winning trainer Simon Callaghan. “We felt that the set up would be perfect. A mile and an eighth, back here in California, I think is totally her game. We had some speed to run at and it actually turned out exactly how we wrote up the race.”
Maxim Rate was second behind Mucho Unusual (Mucho Macho Man) in last year's GI Rodeo Drive S. before winning the Oct. 25 GII Goldikova S. She ended 2020 with a fifth-place effort in the Nov. 29 GI Matriarch S. In her only previous 2021 outing, the 5-year-old mare was fifth in the Apr. 10 GI Coolmore Jenny Wiley S. at Keeneland.
“The Grade I was our main aim and to pull it off is fantastic for all of the owners, all of the Slam Dunk Team, everyone involved,” Callaghan said. “Now, we'll just space the races out and it will be nice to get to the Breeders' Cup.”
Pedigree Notes:
Maxim Rate's Gamely win gave her broodmare sire Unbridled's Song his 27th Grade I victory.
Catch My Eye, a full-sister to the dam of 2017 G3 UAE Oaks winner Nomorerichblondes (Hard Spun), has an unraced 2-year-old colt by Violence who RNA'd for $150,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. The mare produced a colt by Street Sense last year and was bred back to More Than Ready.
Monday, Santa Anita
GAMELY S.-GI, $301,000, Santa Anita, 5-31, 3yo/up, f/m,
1 1/8mT, 1:46.61, fm.
1–MAXIM RATE, 124, m, 5, by Exchange Rate
1st Dam: Catch My Eye, by Unbridled's Song
2nd Dam: Sharp Eyes, by Storm Cat
3rd Dam: Gaelic Bird (Fr), by Gay Mecene
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($130,000 Wlg '16 KEENOV; $235,000 Ylg
'17 KEESEP). O-Slam Dunk Racing, Stable Currency LLC & James
D Branham; B-Fred W Hertrich III & John D Fielding (KY);
T-Simon Callaghan; J-Juan J Hernandez. $180,000. Lifetime
Record: 16-6-3-0, $597,185. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–La Signare (Fr), 122, m, 6, by Siyouni (Fr)
1st Dam: La Teranga (Fr), by Beat Hollow (GB)
2nd Dam: Adrastea (Ire), by Monsun (Ger)
3rd Dam: Akasma (Ger), by Windwurf (Ger)
O-Madaket Stables LLC, Tim & Anna Cambron & Bradley
Thoroughbreds; B-Moussa Mbacke (FR); T-Brendan P Walsh.
$60,000.
3–Bodhicitta (GB), 124, m, 5, by Showcasing (GB)
1st Dam: Solfilia (GB), by Teofilo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Suntory (Ire), by Royal Applause (GB)
3rd Dam: Klarifi (GB), by Habitat
(£55,000 Ylg '17 GOUKPR; £100,000 2yo '18 GOFBRE;
60,000gns 3yo '19 TATHIT; $775,000 RNA 4yo '20 FTKNOV).
O-Calvin Nguyen; B-Fonthill Farms & Mr & Mrs A Scott (GB);
T-Richard Baltas. $36,000.
Margins: HF, HF, NK. Odds: 13.90, 4.80, 12.80.
Also Ran: Keeper Ofthe Stars, Going to Vegas, Charmaine's Mia, Red Lark (Ire). Scratched: Raymundos Secret, Stela Star (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
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