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The Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita is one of the first Grade 1 sprint races in the country for older fillies and mares. The 2012 edition, slated for Jan. 28, is shaping up as a race worthy of its Grade 1 status. Among the probable starters are Grade 1 winner Teddy's Promise, multiple Stakes winners Rumor and Sugarinthemorning, and Eastern shipper Beat the Blues for trainer Bill Calhoun.

Winning a Grade 1 with a filly or mare has repercussions beyond the winner's share of the purse. A win at racing's highest level will exponentially increase the value of a mare and the subsequent foals she produces as a broodmare. The Santa Monica is one of the first opportunities each season for a mare to earn Grade 1-winning status, which is the main reason Calhoun is sending Beat the Blues to the West Coast.

The seven-furlong Santa Monica Stakes was first run in 1957 and has been won by some of the greatest racemares in the history of the sport. Among those are the legendary Serena's Song in 1996. The Santa Monica was one of an astonishing 11 Grade 1 wins in Serena's Song's distinguished career, which ended with a record of 18-11-3 from 38 starts and earnings of $3.2-million. She was North America's champion 3-year-old in 1995 and was inducted in the Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs in 2002.

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has the most Santa Monica wins among trainers with six, which includes Serena's Song's victory. He earned his first Santa Monica win in 1980 and Lukas' other major achievement in the race was winning back-to-back runnings in 1987-88 with Pine Tree Lane.

Bill Shoemaker leads all jockeys in Santa Monica wins with six as well. Interestingly, two of those came in the same year. In 1961, the race was split into two divisions because of the high number of entries. Shoemaker won the first division with Taboo and came back to win the second division with Swiss Roll. Shoemaker's last Santa Monica win came aboard Lovlier Linda in 1985.

The Santa Monica's record running time of 1:20.60 was set by Past Forgetting in 1982. Past Forgetting also won the Santa Monica in 1983.

As for the 2012 edition, Teddy's Promise is the headliner. She has won three straight races for trainer Ron Ellis, culminating with a win in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 31.