SANTA MONICA S. (gr. II ), Santa Anita Park , January 26, 2013 , $250,000 Guaranteed , value of race $250,500 , 4 yo's & up , 7 furlongs , 1:22.64 Dirt WF .

Teddy’s Promise is on a roll at Santa Anita for owners Ted and Judy Nichols and trainer Ron Ellis. The 5-year-old homebred mare captured the Kalookan Queen Stakes Dec. 29 by 51/4 lengths and then won the Santa Monica Stakes (gr. II) Jan. 26 by three lengths. Teddy’s Promise, who is the first horse bred by the Nicholses, improved her record to 8-2-1 from 21 starts and upped her earnings to $634,981.

“Ron wants to take it easy with her for a week or two and see how she’s doing,” said Ted Nichols, whose farm is located near Oceanside, Calif. “That track (in the Santa Monica) was unforgiving. It was more like a muddy track instead of a wet-fast track. But Ron said she came out of it well and is eating good. We’ll see how she does and go from there. She’s at the top of her game right now.”

Teddy’s Promise contested last year’s Santa Monica, but things didn’t go her way. “I felt she should have won last year’s Santa Monica, but she was blocked three times in the stretch,” Nichols said. “Everyone thought she should have won by two or three lengths, but sometimes stuff like that happens.”

The Nicholses own nine mares including Braids and Beads (by Capote), the dam of Teddy’s Promise. The couple privately acquired the mare from the Mabee family’s Golden Eagle Farm, located near Ramona, Calif., in 2008 when she was 10. Braids and Beads had failed to win, but Ted Nichols liked her pedigree and her looks.

Braids and Beads is a half sister to California graded stakes winner General Meeting and to the granddam of multiple stakes winner Devereux. Braids and Beads’ second dam, Summertime Promise, won six stakes including the grade III Gallorette Handicap at Pimlico and is the granddam of Carson City, a Mr. Prospector son who sired 100 stakes winners.

Braids and Beads is in foal to Tribal Rule and is booked to Unusual Heat.

“The mating to Unusual Heat is an A ++ cross,” Ted Nichols said.

The Nicholses hope to have another runner on the racetrack in the spring. They own a Stormin Fever 2-year-old filly who is training at Rancho Paseana.

Deceased Salt Lake has sired 76 stakes winners. He began his stud career at Walmac Farm in Kentucky and also stood Southern Hemisphere seasons in Australia and Argentina. Prior to his death from colic complications in 2010, Salt Lake stood at Golden Eagle.—D.S

FRAN'S VALENTINE S. ( ), Betfair Hollywood Park , May 18, 2013 , $100,000 Guaranteed , value of race $100,500 , 3 yo's & up , 1 mile , 1:34.28 Turf FM .