ARCADIA, Calif. - The compliments made their way from California back to trainer Brendan Walsh last week and at the beginning of the holiday weekend. As the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita on Monday drew closer, Walsh’s team in California bragged about Ocean Road’s day-to-day training. “The guys couldn’t stop talking about how she looked since she got out here,” Walsh recalled. Walsh related that story in the winner’s circle, minutes after Ocean Road closed from last of six to win the first stakes of her career in the $400,500 Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf. :: Want to start playing with a $510 bankroll and have access to free Formulator? Learn more The win, in the richest race of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting for fillies and mares on turf, gave Walsh and owners Qatar Racing high hopes for the rest of Ocean Road’s 2022 campaign. Last November, Ocean Road finished sixth of 12 at 75-1 in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar in her American debut when trained by Hugo Palmer. The same race at Keeneland on Nov. 5 is a long-range goal, with the hope that Ocean Road will approach the race as a leading contender. Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Ocean Road ($12.20) won the Gamely by a half-length over 2-1 Going to Vegas, who led briefly in the stretch. Going Global, the 4-5 favorite, was third, beaten 1 1/2 lengths. Canoodling, Eddie’s New Dream, and Thrumps Dream completed the order of finish. Ocean Road was timed in 1:46.66 and earned a career-best Beyer Figure of 93. Canoodling, the winner of two Grade 3 stakes at a mile on turf earlier this year, set a fair pace of 23.49 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 47.81 for a half-mile, leading by as much as two lengths over Going to Vegas. The small field was separated by less than three lengths on the final turn when Canoodling was challenged by Going to Vegas, who led into the stretch under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. “She put me in a good position,” said Ortiz, who rode four winners earlier on the 10-race program. “She responded well at the quarter pole. She kept fighting through the stretch.” Going to Vegas, who won the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes last October when trained by Richard Baltas, had her first start for trainer Phil D’Amato in the Gamely. D’Amato also trains Going Global, a seven-time stakes winner between mid-February of 2021 and early April. :: Win big at Santa Anita: Get DRF Past Performances, Picks, Clocker Reports and Betting Strategies.  Ridden by Flavien Prat, Going Global raced between rivals on the backstretch and through the stretch. While she finished with interest, Going Global did not have as good of a trip as Ocean Road, who rallied wide. “Going Global was in tight between them,” D’Amato said. The Gamely was Rispoli’s first stakes win since he returned to Santa Anita on May 22 after riding in Kentucky in April and earlier this month. The Gamely was his first Grade 1 win since Going to Vegas’s victory in the Rodeo Drive last autumn. Rispoli watched Ocean Road win an allowance race at Keeneland in April in her 2022 debut. He was confident the 4-year-old filly would respond in the final quarter-mile of the Gamely. “I knew she could kick,” he said. “I didn’t want to get in trouble. She kicked strong. The farther she goes, the better it will be for her.” Ocean Road, an Irish-bred by Australia, has won 3 of 8 starts and earned $351,772. “She came out here and really took to it,” Walsh said. “We’ve got plenty to look forward to.”