'She's the best' - Going Global out to land Grade 1 honours for Mehmas

When it comes to accolades for his three-year-old filly Going Global, trainer Phil D'Amato is anything but reserved.

He said: "I've trained a lot of good fillies and mares, but this early on in their career, I'd say she's definitely the best."

Considering that D'Amato has a little more than $40 million in career earnings and a score of Graded stakes wins to his credit, those words carry quite a bit of weight, all of which seemed justified after Going Global's impressive performance in the $101,000 Honeymoon Stakes for three-year-old fillies at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Improving her record to a perfect four from four since February, when she began her racing career in the United States for D'Amato, the Irish-bred daughter of Mehmas cruised to an easy four and three-quarter length victory in the extended mile turf contest under Flavien Prat.

"I think she's blossoming right now," said D'Amato, whose filly has reeled off that quartet of American wins in stakes company. "Each performance was better than the next and this one was many lengths better than the last one. It's exciting to have a filly like this going into Del Mar and hopefully the sky's the limit."

After notching up a neck victory in the Providencia Stakes in her last start in April, the Honeymoon was a big step forward for the filly owned by CYBT, Michael Dubb, Saul Gevertz, Michael Nentwig and Ray Pagano. Connections have the Del Mar Oaks circled on their calendars as the main target for their filly.

"The Del Mar Oaks is our finish line," confirmed Nentwig. "That's the race we're pointing to."

The Honeymoon was the fifth win in a row for Going Global, who struck in a handicap at Dundalk in November before moving to the US.

A winner of five of eight starts with earnings of $248,792, Going Global is a daughter of the Invasor mare Wrood, who has produced two winners from as many offspring to have made the track. Her most recent foal is a yearling filly by U S Navy Flag.

Two years ago, Going Global was bought for €15,500 by Pioneer Racing from the Castlebridge Consignment at the 2019 Goffs Sportsman's Yearling Sale. She raced for owners Pioneer Racing and Christopher Donnelly when competing in Ireland.

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