Improving Santa Monica primed to finally land the spoils

Santa Monica gets the nap to earn an overdue maiden success this evening at Tipperary. There is a concern she isn’t proven on the likely testing ground, but her dam secured her sole victory on good-to-soft going, and this lady has shown plenty of class in three outings to date.

On debut she caught the eye finishing eighth behind Alice Springs, and took a small step forward when fourth behind Miss Gossip next time. She finished in front of the latter when running a huge race to finish fourth, beaten five lengths, behind leading prospect Tanaza in a Group 3 at Leopardstown on her most recent outing.

There’s every reason to expect the Charles O’Brien-trained filly can step forward once more and she should make the breakthrough.