Grade 3 winner Rashmi is set to return from a year-long layoff at Santa Anita Park March 28, jumping right back into graded company to contest the $100,000 Wilshire Stakes (G3T).
A homebred daughter of Oscar Performance for George Strawbridge Jr.'s Augustin Stables, Rashmi hit the board in seven of her nine starts from July 2024 to March 1, 2025. After finishing fourth to future champion She Feels Pretty while stretching to 1 1/4 miles in the 2024 American Oaks (G1T), she cut back to 1 mile and showed her potential by winning the 2025 Megahertz Stakes (G3T) by 2 1/2 lengths and being beat just a neck when third in the Buena Vista Stakes (G2T) one month later.
Video: Megahertz S. (G3T)
However, that would be her final start of 2025 as trainer Jonathan Thomas decided to hit the brakes after a long campaign.
"The long racing year caught up with her," Thomas said. "She had nothing major, but by the time we had committed to giving her time, we gave her some added time. Instead of starting her back up in Kentucky in the fall, we thought she could just meet up with us in California."
The now 5-year-old mare returned to the work tab Jan. 18 and has been breezing consistently since. Thomas said all signs point to her being ready to fire.
"She's been training very well. We're excited to get her started," he said. "She's a bigger, stronger version of herself (compared to) last year, at least from what we've seen in the morning. Obviously, we need to knock the dust off, but she's certainly been training well."
If she shows signs of her old self Saturday, Thomas has a target circle painted on the $300,000 Gamely Stakes (G1T) at Santa Anita May 25.
With Kazushi Kimura aboard, she will have to navigate from the rail in the 1-mile contest. Luckily, she only has four rivals.
Her credentials tower over those rivals with Holly and David Wilson's Antifona being the only other stakes winner in the field, courtesy of the Sweet Life Stakes in February 2024. She was a last-out third in the Wishing Well Stakes over 6 furlongs.
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Hannah Buckle made her stakes debut Jan. 8 with a fourth, beaten 1 1/4 lengths, in the Robert J. Frankel Stakes (G3T). The other two runners, Thomas' Walk'n the Beach and Pamela Ziebarth's Miss Artois make their stakes debuts Saturday.
Thomas Throwing 'Residual Hail Mary' With Walk'n the Beach
Owned and trained by Thomas, Walk'n the Beach is an admittedly peculiar entry in the field. In her last start, Thomas claimed her for $10,000 out of a third-place finish Jan. 30 going 6 furlongs on dirt.
The 4-year-old Omaha Beach filly's pedigree is what lured Thomas, considering her a potential fit in his broodmare band. Out of the winning Unbridled's Song mare Sky Walk, Walk'n the Beach is a half sister to 2020 Valley View Stakes (G3T) winner Stunning Sky (Declaration of War).
"She's a neat little filly, I'm a fan of the pedigree—Omaha Beach out of an Unbridled's Song mare," Thomas said. "They don't give out graded stakes at Keeneland, so there's obviously some talent in that family."
Saturday will not only be her first stakes start, but also her first on turf and first around two turns. Thomas said they have been looking for a grass race on turf since they claimed her, but the potential races that could be options haven't gone. When the field for the Wilshire came up small, Thomas opened his playbook and called a "residual Hail Mary."
"It's one second on the clock, Hail Mary from the 1-yard line kind of situation," Thomas said. "But, if our wide receiver catches it, it's a huge coup, if she hits the board. We have no illusions of her running in the real frame, like 1-2, but if she could happen to just outrun her odds and finish third, then that obviously helps her on the back end."
Should the receiver catch the ball, or in this case jockey Ricardo Gonzalez riding her to a top 3 finish, then Thomas will have a valuable broodmare on his hands.
"If she hit the board, then she's going to get a one-way ticket to Kentucky, get in foal, and then she'll be in my backyard," he said.
Santa Anita Park, Saturday, March 28, 2026, Race 3Entries: Wilshire S. (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Rashmi (KY) Kazushi Kimura 124 Jonathan Thomas 3/5 2 2Antifona (FR) Tiago Josue Pereira 120 Vladimir Cerin 5/1 3 3Miss Artois (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 120 Richard Baltas 3/1 4 4Hannah Buckle (IRE) Armando Ayuso 120 Leonard Powell 9/2 5 5Walk'n the Beach (KY) Ricardo Gonzalez 120 Jonathan Thomas 20/1
