Exotics Plays for the Las Cienegas Stakes

Turf sprint standout #1 Queen Maxima will lead a field of nine fillies and mares postward in Sunday’s $100,000 Las Cienegas (G3) at Santa Anita. The 6 1/2-furlong grassy affair down the Hillside Turf Course attracted some nice ones, but the race will go through the Jeff Mullins pupil despite her being assigned a tricky post inside off the group. 

Las Cienegas Wagers

• $5 trifecta key 1 with 2,4,8 ($30)
• 50-cent superfecta 1 with 2,4,8 with 2,4,8 with all ($18)

Queen Maxima was excellent in the first half of 2025 when rolling home to a trio of open-length turf sprint wins, which included a 4 1/4-length romp in the Monrovia (G3) at today’s distance. The chestnut daughter of Bucchero concluded her four-year-old season with a measured score in the Senator Ken Maddy S. at Del Mar and has trained forwardly in the interim. She will never be far back before putting in her winning charge in the early stretch beneath Juan Hernandez. 

Ken Maddy third #8 Nay V Belle has moved forward nicely since focusing solely on the grass four back and is a logical top-three contender with her best showing on this occasion. Trained by Mark Glatt, the chestnut daughter of Midshipman has never run on the course or at the distance, but she is obviously talented and could prosper in her third run off the break, as well. The Kentucky-bred chestnut possesses a fine turn of foot, and she will be doing her best work late with Umberto Rispoli up. 

Group 3 starlet #2 Egyptian Mau has won or placed in each of her trio of performances since arriving from South Africa, which includes a nice allowance triumph going down the hill on Oct. 10. The Fire Away six-year-old is lightly raced with just 11 career tries to her credit, and the group-1 placed mare packs quite a punch in the lane for conditioner Neil Drysdale. If the import gets the right pace setup, then she will be a big factor with Mike Smith in the silks. 

#4 Spicybug has some gate presence in a field lacking pace and might find herself forcing the action from the opening bell in this spot. The Michael McCarthy pupil is four-for-five with a third locally, and she also came out on top in her local attempt at this unique distance, too. The six-year-old Speightstown mare will appreciate the class relief after a go in the Matriarch (G1) in her latest offering and will also prosper with the move back to sprinting. Ricardo Gonzalez has the call.