Just for the heck of it, Tom Robbins was asked to dust off his handicapper's pencil and come up with a number for the topweight among the half dozen older fillies and mares entered in the $100,000 Rancho Bernardo Stakes (G3) Aug. 16 at Del Mar. After all, until this year, the 6 1/2-furlong test had been run as a handicap, so there must have been lingering muscle memory available for the task.
Robbins, who will be honored by the Edwin J. Gregson Foundation Aug. 24 for his years keeping a calm hand on the tiller of the racing departments of Del Mar and Santa Anita Park, played along with the bit. Without glancing at the past performances he barked out "One-thirty-one!" Then added a grin.
It must have felt good for a veteran racing secretary to even utter such a number in jest. After all, there once roamed Thoroughbred dinosaurs who deserved that kind of load. And such is the level of respect held for Sweet Azteca to be thought of at that level, even in the imagination.
The snowy gray mountain of a mare has been the face of the female sprint ranks out West since she went from a 12-length win in allowance company to victory in the 2024 Beholder Mile Stakes (G1) in only her fourth start. Two starts later, she romped in the 2024 Rancho Bernardo by 7 lengths. She won the 2025 Rancho Bernardo by 3 1/2 lengths, in hand.
There was a time, back when Robbins worked for racing secretaries like Jimmy Kilroe and Lou Eilken, that Sweet Azteca would have been asked to carry the kitchen stove against the ambitious group she will face Sunday. Under the renovated allowance conditions, Sweet Azteca will pack 125 pounds, including Juan Hernandez, while the others carry 122.
Michael McCarthy trained Sweet Azteca until she was transferred to Richard Baltas in January of 2025. Now 6, Sweet Azteca returned from a long layoff to take the Great Lady M Stakes (G2) at Los Alamitos on the Fourth of July, her third win in three races for Baltas. Her winning margin over the talented but out-classed Magnificat was only 1 1/4 lengths.
"She wasn't ready," Baltas said. "She's ready now."
Video: Great Lady M S. (G2)
His case is solid. After a foot issue forced vets to scratch Sweet Azteca on the morning of the 2025 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) as the morning-line favorite, she got a four-month holiday. She returned to the work tab in late May and had only three works longer than half a mile before the Great Lady M. Her most recent works include a 1:11 1/5 going 6 furlongs and a half-mile burst in :46 3/5 Aug. 9, both at Del Mar.
"She didn't have to run this year, but she has an owner who thought she deserved another chance to make it to the Breeders' Cup," Baltas said, referring to Pamela Ziebarth, who also bred the daughter Sharp Azteca.
Baltas also has entered Sweet Gal of Mine, Sweet Azteca's younger and considerably less accomplished half sister. Fire Ban, Antifona, and the John Sadler pair of Catalina Cocktail and Thermal complete the field.
"One-thirty-one sounds about right," Sadler said, getting in on the Sweet Azteca weight gag. "But if nothing else, our mare is a strong second choice."
Sadler was talking about Thermal, a 5-year-old daughter of Nyquist owned by the trainer in partnership with By Talla Racing. The hopes generated by Thermal's $625,000 purchase price as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale in 2022 finally became justified in her 14th start last May in the Memorial Day Sprint Stakes at Lone Star Park. Thermal led every step to win by 8 1/4 lengths, throwing down a 106 Beyer Speed Figure that equals the best of Sweet Aztec's career.
Video: Memorial Day Sprint S. (BT)
"She ran so big I wanted to give her plenty of space before this race," Sadler said. "But Pam's filly is top class. At least I've had some success in this race."
No kidding. Beginning with three-time winner Track Gal in the mid-1990s, Sadler has won the Rancho Bernardo seven times, most recently with Edgeway's double in 2021-22.
As part of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Dozen Bonus Series, the Rancho Bernardo offers a $15,000 entry fee credit to the connections of the winner for the Filly and Mare Sprint, to be run Oct. 31 at Keeneland, and lesser awards for the second and third-place finishers.
Del Mar, Sunday, August 16, 2026, Race 5Entries: Rancho Bernardo S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Thermal (ON) Joel Rosario 122 John W. Sadler - 2 Catalina Cocktail (CA) Emisael Jaramillo 122 John W. Sadler - 3 Antifona (FR) Kent J. Desormeaux 122 Vladimir Cerin - 4 Fire Ban (KY) Armando Ayuso 122 Brian J. Koriner - 5 Sweet Azteca (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 125 Richard Baltas - 6 Sweet Gal of Mine (KY) Mike E. Smith 122 Richard Baltas -
