Grand Slam Smile leaves no doubt in the Irish O’Brien Stakes, Benoit Photo
Santa Anita Park Press
ARCADIA, CA — Top California-bred mare Grand Slam Smile earned her ninth stakes win Saturday at Santa Anita when rolling to a 2 ¼-length victory in the $100,000 Irish O’Brien Stakes going about 6 ½ furlongs on the hillside turf course.
With jockey William Antongeorgi III aboard, Grand Slam Smile after the start found herself in the uncustomary position of being behind horses. The start was compromised when Prancingthruparis, in post position 5, appeared to spring the gate early. After a stewards’ inquiry, both Prancingthruparis—who crossed the wire third—and Miss Practical in post six were ruled non-starters. Miss Practical, who crossed the wire fifth and last, was ruled a non-starter due to being held momentarily after the gate opened early to her inside.
After the slow start, Grand Slam Smile blitzed to the front while descending the hill and was never challenged. She went a half mile in 44.29, six furlongs in 1:06.95 and crossed the wire in 1:12.91 for the comfortable victory. Take Another Card finished second and Young Love, who crossed the wire fourth, moved up to third after the two non-starter declarations.
“Something happened at the start, I guess one of the gates didn’t open or opened prematurely. So yeah, she broke a little awkward and slow.,” Antongeorgi said. “They kind of out broke us. The first couple of jumps out of there you could tell that they were crawling, so I didn’t want to be back there pulling on her. I just let her coast up there and she took the lead pretty handily and that’s all she wrote.
Grand Slam Smile is trained by Sean McCarthy for owners-breeders Larry D. Williams and Marianne Williams. The 6-year-old daughter of Smiling Tiger is now 19: 11-6-2 with more than $910,000 in earnings.
“The five horse it looked like broke through the gate early and everyone else just kind of stuttered a little bit including us and all of a sudden we have one beat,” McCarthy said. “But she took herself out there without Billy asking her so I was okay with that.
“When they hit the elbow, it looked like she was cruising. When I saw her with her ears up and Billy had a long rein, I felt pretty good. When they crossed the dirt, I felt really good because he started to open up on her. He told me after the race she was just galloping. She was waiting for them to come to her so she could kick on. “
With the two non-starters removed from the field, all place and show wagers were refunded. Grand Slam Smile paid $2.20 to win.
Grand Slam Smile started her career with trainer Steve Specht. When Specht retired prior to the 2025 campaign, she was transferred to McCarthy. This was her fourth time winning a stakes for McCarthy.
“It’s great to have a filly like this,” McCarthy said. “We had a lot of confidence in her today. It was really neat this morning because Billy landed at LAX at eight o’clock and he text me, ‘I’m going to go straight to the barn.’ He gets to the barn and he goes down the shedrow. As soon as he gets down the shedrow, she came right to the front with her ears straight up. I was just watching them, saying, ‘Oh, this is killing me.’ So, I felt pretty good right then and there.”
IRISH O’ BRIEN STAKES QUOTES
JOCKEY QUOTES
WILLIAM ANTONGEORGI, III, GRAND SLAM SMILE, WINNER: “I knew, as long as we didn’t get any like heavy pressure, she would be super tough. Something happened at the start, I guess one of the gates didn’t open or opened prematurely. So yeah, she broke a little awkward and slow. They kind of out broke us. The first couple of jumps out of there you could tell that they were crawling, so I didn’t want to be back there pulling on her. I just let her coast up there and she took the lead pretty handily and that’s all she wrote. I have to really thank the Williams and Sean (McCarthy) for having the confidence of keeping me on her all the time. We get along so well. She is an awesome filly to ride. Having a horse like this, it is what we look for, those types of horses.”
TRAINER QUOTES
SEAN MCCARTHY, GRAND SLAM SMILE, WINNER: “It’s great to have a filly like that. We had a lot of confidence in her today. It was really neat this morning because Billy landed at LAX at eight o’clock and he text me, ‘I’m going to go straight to the barn.’ He gets to the barn and he goes down the shedrow. As soon as he gets down the shedrow, she came right to the front with her ears straight up. And I was just watching them, saying, ‘Oh, this is killing me.’ So, I felt pretty good right then and there. “I want to thank the Williams’ a bunch for giving us this opportunity and of course Dan and Steve Specht and everyone I talked about before. It is just fantastic having her, just fantastic.
“The five horse it looked like broke through the gate early and everyone else just kind of stuttered a little bit including us and all of a sudden we have one beat. But she took herself out there without Billy asking her so I was okay with that. When they hit the elbow, it looked like she was cruising. When I saw her with her ears up and Billy had a long rein, I felt pretty good. When they crossed the dirt, I felt really good because he started to open up on her. He told me after the race she was just galloping. She was waiting for them to come to her so she could kick on. It’s a thrill. This race here is the first stake I ever won at Santa Anita, 13 years ago with Mr. (John) Harris so it’s a little sentimental too.”
NOTES: The winning owner and breeder is Mr. & Mrs. Larry D. Williams.
