Princesa Moche guns for a bounce-back win in the Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita

The Peruvian-bred standout meets Queen Maxima once again, bringing sharp form and the credentials of a successful international campaign to the starting gate.

Princesa Moche (right) seeks a return to winning ways / BENOIT PHOTO

ARCADIA, California (Special to Turf Diario)— In an always demanding setting like the downhill turf course at Santa Anita Park, the Monrovia Stakes (G3-1300 m, turf, $100,000 purse) will offer this weekend a new chapter in the rivalry between Queen Maxima and the Peruvian Princesa Moche, in a race that, beyond the logical favoritism of the defending champion, will have a marked South American accent.

The central figure is once again Queen Maxima, the pupil of Jeff Mullins, who will seek to repeat her victory from last year, when she dominated the test by a wide 4 1/4 lengths before embarking on a consecrated season. That series included successes in the Unbridled Sidney (G3) and the Senator Ken Maddy Stakes (L), confirming her specialty on the layout and her enormous effectiveness in turf sprinting. In 2026, the daughter of Bucchero already left her mark by winning the Las Cienegas (G3), precisely over this same course, consolidating an impressive record: 8 wins in 13 presentations and more than 630,000 dollars in prize money.

But if there is a story that appeals from this side of the map, it is that of Princesa Moche, bred in Peru and turned into a worthy ambassador of South American turf in California. The defender of the Rancho San Roberto Inc. colors, trained by Doug O’Neill, already knows what it is to compete on equal terms with the favorite: in the aforementioned Las Cienegas she was an absolute protagonist, setting the pace and falling by just half a length against Queen Maxima after sustaining the pressure throughout the stretch.

That performance was not an isolated event. Far from showing the effort, the daughter of Muwaary responded with a high-impact victory in the Megahertz Stakes (G3), this time stretching to the mile, demonstrating uncommon versatility.Later, in the demanding Buena Vista Stakes (G2), she could not repeat, finishing fifth, although facing a field of great hierarchy and at a distance that does not necessarily enhance her best version.

Now, back to a distance more suited to her characteristics and with the Italian Antonio Fresu in her reins for the first time, Princesa Moche will try to strike and return to South America a prominent victory in one of the most competitive stages in the Northern Hemisphere.

The field, compact but demanding, also includes Love Appeals, a daughter of Speightstown trained by Miguel Clement,who arrives from the East Coast in search of her first graded victory after good performances in Florida, and Tirupati,from the Jonathan Thomas stable, who returns after a long absence with a background of hierarchy in this same circuit.

However, beyond the names, the Monrovia once again offers that special attraction that so appeals to regional turf:seeing a mare born in South America measure forces, on equal terms, against the North American elite. And in this context, Princesa Moche not only represents an illusion; she is, by present and by background, a real threat.