“I had a good trip actually,” Espinoza said. “I was able to get clear at the break so I could sit behind the frontrunners. I wanted to wait a little longer, but she was doing it so easy, I just moved on with her. She could hear all the noise from the crowd and kind of put the brakes on me, but luckily the other two horses [Pauline's Pearl and Shedaresthedevil] were on either side of me and when she saw them, she moved forward. It's like she runs so easy, she gets a little bit bored and does some silly things, but it all worked out.”

Added Michael McCarthy, speaking via Bas Nicholl (assistant to D. Wayne Lukas), who saddled the mare, “Obviously, coming to the top of the stretch, it looked like she was going to go ahead and put a little daylight between herself and everybody else. Coming to the sixteenth pole, I saw her ears go up and wasn't sure if she was getting tired or what. When those two other fillies came to her, she dug back in and showed what a champion she is today.”

CeCe, winner of Oaklawn's 2020 GI Apple Blossom H., annexed four of six starts during her championship season, including Gulfstream's seven-panel GII Princess Rooney S. and 6 1/2-furlong GIII Chillingworth S. at Santa Anita. She capped off the year, while securing her championship title, with a score in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar. The Bo Hirsch homebred kicked off 2022 with a runner-up finish as the favorite in the GII Santa Monica S. at Santa Anita Feb. 5.

Pedigree Notes:

Ce Ce's lightly raced dam Miss Houdini, winner of the 2002 GI Del Mar Debutante, is also responsible for GII Arkansas Derby and GII San Fernando S. winner Papa Clem (Smart Strike).

Also a Bo Hirsch homebred, the mare's latest representative is the unplaced 2-year-old Native Thunder (American Pharoah), a $200,000 KEESEP yearling purchase by Lazy F Ranch. Miss Houdini was bred to Mucho Macho Man and Tamarkuz for 2022.

Magical Maiden, Ce Ce's Second dam, was a $26,000 juvenile purchase by Hirsch's father Clement. She took a pair of Grade I races in Southern California, earning over $900,000 before being sold for $400,000 at the 2000 Keeneland November sale. The Azeri winner's late sire, Elusive Quality, is responsible for a total of 56 graded winners and 137 stakes winners.

Saturday, Oaklawn
AZERI S.-GII, $350,000, Oaklawn, 3-12, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:43.55, ft.
1–CE CE, 117, m, 6, by Elusive Quality
               1st Dam: Miss Houdini (GISW, $187,600), by Belong to Me
               2nd Dam: Magical Maiden, by Lord Avie
               3rd Dam: Gils Magic, by Magesterial
O/B-Bo Hirsch, LLC (KY); T-Michael W. McCarthy; J-Victor
Espinoza. $210,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. female sprinter,
MGISW, 18-9-2-3, $2,003,100. *1/2 to Papa Clem (Smart
Strike), MGSW & GISP, $1,121,190. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Pauline's Pearl, 124, f, 4, Tapit–Hot Dixie Chick, by Dixie
Union. O-Stonestreet Stables LLC; B-Stonestreet
Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen.
$70,000.
3–Shedaresthedevil, 119, m, 5, Daredevil–Starship
Warpspeed, by Congrats. ($100,000 Wlg '17 KEENOV;
$20,000 RNA Ylg '18 KEESEP; $280,000 2yo '19 KEENOV;
$5,000,000 4yo '21 FTKNOV). O-Flurry Racing Stables LLC,
Qatar Racing Limited & Whisper Hill Farm, LLC; B-WinStar
Farm, LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $35,000.
Margins: 3/4, 1, 2 3/4. Odds: 1.70, 2.90, 1.00.
Also Ran: She's All Wolfe, Ava's Grace, Golden Curl, Lady Mystify. Scratched: Lavender (Ire), Super Quick.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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“Most of the times I ride her, I know before I get to the gate what kind of a race she's going to run,” he said.

“So, did you know in the Breeders' Cup?” I asked eagerly.

“Oh yes, most definitely,” he replied. “The minute she walked onto the track I was like, 'oh yes,' and I looked at the rest of the horses and thought, `oh, I feel sorry for you guys!'”

The rest, of course is history. Ce Ce took down the Breeders' Cup and was crowned champion female sprinter at Santa Anita's Eclipse Award ceremony Feb. 10, but not before tasting defeat at the hands of Merneith (American Pharoah) in the GII Santa Monica S. just days before she was crowned.

I had interviewed CeCe's owner-breeder Bo Hirsch prior to the Santa Monica and asked him, “win lose or draw, what has she left to prove in her 6-year-old year?”

Hirsch was effusive and simply said, “She has nothing to prove and she owes us nothing. I'm getting old and I love to watch my horses run. You know, I may not live long enough to watch her foals run so why not enjoy her another year now?”

This is something the 72-year-old Hirsch echoed in his Eclipse Award speech, where he said, “I love this business. This is the greatest sport in the world.”

So, to find the key to Ce Ce's longevity, I set off to the Mike McCarthy barn.

Horses love routine, and in that, champion Ce Ce is no different. Training every morning with the sunrise at 6:30, she sets out not to Santa Anita's main track, but to the six-furlong training track nestled inside the turf course.

It's something McCarthy started a couple of years ago and it has stuck.

“It's a good walk to and fro, from the training track. It's something she enjoys and we let her take her time.”

So, off we went with her. I followed Ce Ce down into the tunnel, walking as fast as my oh-too-short legs could to try and keep up.

Once on the training track, Ce Ce took up her customary position next to the outrider Camacho and his pony Justin, enjoying cuddles from her rider Lydio as the early morning sun cast a long shadow across the track.

I'm pretty sure she would have stood there all day!

“Jog one, gallop two.” These were the instructions handed out by McCarthy.

Off she went–nothing flashy, just doing her job, three times around before pulling up with a pat. “She's a trainer's dream,” explained McCarthy, later that morning. It has been a huge deal to train a mare like her. She shows up every time, she's all business, she's all racehorse, from breaking her maiden first time out, something the stats say shouldn't happen,” said a deadpan McCarthy, “to winning the GI Beholder.”

“We got a little sidetracked later in the year,” he added. “We had a hard time finding racetracks she likes. She seems to like it a little harder and faster. We've kind of gotten away from that a little bit out here in California, so she's struggled with that a little bit.”

McCarthy went on to elaborate that Ce Ce has got a little picky in her old age, preferring the more glib race tracks of times gone by. When pressed about her Breeders' Cup performance, the ever-reserved trainer perked up.

“Got a perfect set up with Gamine and Bella Sofia in there. Victor asked the question and she responded. I believe that was probably as good a Breeders' Cup performance as you would see on Breeders' Cup day,” he said, with just a bit of pride.

As for what happened in the Santa Monica, McCarthy conceded Baffert led a very good horse over that ran her eyeballs out. Plus, Ce Ce was coming off a brief layoff, with the track against her.

“But I saw what I needed to see and we will go from there,” he added.

But where?

McCarthy did his best dodge-the-question dance, with the usual `keep our options open,' followed by a list of logical choices befitting a champion. “Oaklawn. Keeneland. Could show up in another country. Could stay here.”

“Hold on,” I said. “Another country?”

“Well, we are not the only place that holds racing,” quipped a now-smiling McCarthy. “There are races like the Golden Shaheen in Dubai, or she could even try the grass. We know her likes and dislikes and will try to play to those for the rest of the year.”

Is there added pressure training a six-year-old with seemingly nothing left to prove, I asked?

“There is a little bit of pressure because we want to do right by her, always. I feel like we are responsible for the effort, not the outcome. Sometimes, that's beyond our control.”

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The 2020 GI Apple Blossom H. and GI Beholder Mile S. heroine focused on races going around one turn during her 2021 campaign. In addition to her victory at the Championships, her season also included strong wins in the GII Princess Rooney Invitational at Gulfstream July 3 and GIII Chillingworth S. at Santa Anita Oct. 3. She finished third, three lengths behind champion Gamine (Into Mischief) in the GI Ballerina H. at Saratoga Aug. 28.

The Bo Hirsch homebred, the 3-5 morning-line favorite for the Santa Monica, is an Eclipse finalist for champion female sprinter.

“Well, at my stage in life I want more fun than money, and as long as she wants to run, and as long as we know she wants to run, we're going to run for a while,” Hirsch said following the Breeders' Cup.

The field of five also includes: last out GI La Brea S. winner Kalypso (Brody's Cause); and this race's 2021 winner Merneith (American Pharoah), who returned from the shelf to finish second in the Kalookan Queen S. here Jan. 2.

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How wrong we were, how gloriously wrong. For it turned out that Ce Ce's defining moment had been reserved for the arrival at the same track of the Breeders' Cup itself, when her shock success in the GI Filly & Mare Sprint saluted the memory of the man who bred her dam–and remains cherished as the modern architect of our sport in California. So it's no different from the movies: the best scripts aren't glib and schmaltzy, but true to life. Without moments of disappointment on the way, there would be no true fulfilment in the denouement.

“I do admit that to have won the Clement L. Hirsch would, for me, have been like winning the Kentucky Derby,” Hirsch says. “And I hope someday I'm lucky enough to win that race. But this was as good a day as I ever had in my life, one I'll never forget, and it's still soaking in. I can't tell you the amount of calls and emails I've had since. The whole experience was just wonderful: all these people coming up and rooting for you, Chris the barber at the track wearing a Ce Ce hat. Like most people, I thought no one was going to beat Gamine (Into Mischief) if she ran her race. But you know, it's a horse race. And I was full of hope that it might set up for Ce Ce to give her best shot.”

Whether by happy accident or thoughtful design, Hirsch found himself observing the race in a box adjacent to his trainer Mike McCarthy. Afterwards, McCarthy said that down the stretch he had “watched” Ce Ce's finish through his patron's expression, and judging from its growing euphoria what must be happening out there.

And if the celebrations brought together other joyous strands, notably the comeback of veteran rider Victor Espinoza, then there was no mistaking the principal toast. For Del Mar would not be Del Mar without the selfless dynamism and integrity of Hirsch's father, who was also the rock on which was founded the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita.

“I felt his presence there,” admitted Hirsch. “I'm 72 years old, and I've been coming here for 72 years. My father would always rent a house on the beach, we'd come down during the summer and I loved it. It was my second home, and it still is.”

Among the messages of congratulations received by Hirsch, few moved him more than one from a stalwart of the Californian Turf, Alan Balch, who recalled the time he was going to leave Oak Tree. It felt like they had achieved everything they could hope for: the Breeders' Cup for 1984; 86,000 people at the Big 'Cap; the Olympics. Balch felt it was time to move on.

But then Hirsch's father found out, and there was his head around his office door one day: very serious, shuts the door, asks if he might sit down. What kind of pay hike, he asked, would change his mind? “I'll get it for you,” he said. “You're worth it.”

“That's the kind of guy he was,” reflects Hirsch. “I remember him starting the Oak Tree meet, back in '69, and he had to go and get approval by the Governor. And the late Dr. Jack Robbins told me one day how they went in to see [Santa Anita chairman] Robert Strub to try and get this thing finalized. And at the end of the meeting Strub says, 'You know, we could lose $2 million, $3 million, $4 million if this doesn't work out.' And those were 1969 dollars! And my father looked at him and says, 'You're covered.' And Strub says, 'Let's do it.' No contract. That's just the reputation my father had. His word was golden.”

What makes Ce Ce so special, then, is that she represents such a direct legacy to this cherished patriarch.

“My father was at the track one day when they had the [2-year-old] sale on,” Hirsch explains. “And he just walked in and there was Mel Stute, whose brother Warren was his trainer for 48 years. And he said, 'Clement, bid on this colt–he's out of my range, but bid on him, he's worth the money!' So my father turned around and bid, and 30 seconds later he owned this colt.”

Named Magical Mile (J O Tobin), the $190,000 acquisition broke the Hollywood Park track record on debut and then won a Grade II at the same track. Thereafter Hirsch Sr. went back time and again for siblings out of the same mare. The next foal won five of eight starts, including a stake at Del Mar; and then came Magical Maiden, who cost just $26,000 but won the GI Hollywood Starlet and GI Las Virgenes S.

This family has been developed elsewhere to produce champion Good Magic (Curlin) among others, but Magical Maiden had made an unpromising start to her second career when her owner died in 2000. Nonetheless the filly she had delivered a few weeks previously would find her way into a group of five horses picked out from the dispersal by Kathy Berkey (who had worked for his father) for Hirsch to maintain a residue of the program.

“I gave Kathy a budget,” recalls Hirsch. “And if I remember right, this filly took probably about half of it. I said, 'Boy, I'm not too interested in doing that. I'd rather get a few more mares to breed than start with a baby. My father bred to A.P. Indy with Magical Maiden and got nothing.' But Kathy said: 'This one is different.' So I said, 'You're the pro, let's go.'”

Warren Stute didn't think much of Miss Houdini, either, at first. “I hope you didn't pay too much for that!” he exclaimed. But she won the GI Del Mar Debutante S. and, while her track career was curtailed, went on to give Hirsch and his family a memorable ride with her second foal Papa Clem (Smart Strike), named for the affectionate way Hirsch's children had addressed his father. Papa Clem, aptly conditioned by Gary Stute, won the GII Arkansas Derby in 2009 and was just nosed out of the frame on the first Saturday in May.

“All my life, whenever friends asked did I ever go to the Derby, I had said: 'No, and I'm not going until I get a horse in there',” Hirsch recalls. “Expecting that never to happen. What an experience that week was! We took a big gang down there and just had a wonderful time. And we would have run second but for those two [Musket Man and Pioneerof the Nile] bumping us back and forth all the way down. By that time, I knew enough about the business to know that if you get a good one, you enjoy the moment–because it's going to be a long time, if ever, before you get another.”

And yet Papa Clem turned out only to be a pathfinder: Ce Ce, his half-sister, had already given their dynasty a rare distinction with her two Grade I wins last year, becoming the third consecutive elite winner along the bottom line. Hirsch stresses that he's fully alive both to the rarity of that achievement, and to its source in the combined perspiration and inspiration of his team: Berkey herself; Columbiana Farm, where he boards half a dozen mares; and, of course, the horsemen who produced her on the day.

“If you think of what Victor Espinoza has gone through, that there was a time he wasn't even sure he'd be able to lift a cup of coffee again, and now he's come back riding as good as ever,” Hirsch says. “And, like I said after the race, if there's a trainer out there who works harder than Mike McCarthy, they're working on a day that's longer than 24 hours. He is so dedicated, he eats and sleeps horses–yet also finds the time to be a wonderful family man.

“I realize how lucky I am to have that Magical Maiden line. I'm no expert, first to admit it, but Kathy spends so much time studying what sires to breed to these mares. Sires that keep us just the right size: they all look alike in the family, a little mean, a little light-bodied. I realize we're always rolling the dice, with horses, but these people have done a pretty darned good job.”

They don't have far to seek for a model. In fact, the more we look at the problems besetting our industry today, the more we need to invoke the spirit of Clement L. Hirsch. With leaders of his caliber, perhaps, we would be able to avoid the kind of trauma lately endured at Arlington.

“I agree,” says his son. “I'd love to see more people coming to the plate and doing things like that. It's not easy, of course. Both [Oak Tree and Del Mar] were done without owning the land. It would be wonderful if racetracks could be purchased by states, and leased back so that it can be profitable both for them and the industry. I can't think anything's better than the way they ran Oak Tree, and the way they run Del Mar now. How do you compete against an organization that's not doing it for profit: some of the money going to charity, the rest back into the horse business?”

As it is, the community often finds its most public-spirited, far-sighted endeavors sabotaged by factional self-interest. Do we still have leaders of this caliber? Clement Hirsch fought with the Marines on Guadalcanal. He started his sporting career when buying a greyhound threatened with euthanasia, for $2.50, and nursing him back to health and success–an experience that led incidentally to selling pet food door-to-door. Here was a man, right from the beginning, who always walked the walk.

“Well, my father was the most honorable man I've ever known,” Hirsch reflects. “And that's what he tried to teach his children, that honesty is the only policy. Be up front. And listen. Don't make decisions until you've heard both sides of the story. He was a very generous, very thoughtful man. The bottom line was always to ask what was the right thing to do?”

Whether or not our community as a whole can measure up to that legacy, at least the Hirsch equine program remains in the best of hands. Miss Houdini is entering the evening of her breeding career, but her daughter will probably have only one more season on the track before embarking on the quest for a fourth-generation Grade I winner.

“Well, Ce Ce is five years old,” Hirsch notes. “If she can produce as long as her mother, that would take us forward 15 years. And I'm 72. So who knows? We could just finish this thing off together! But whatever happens, I look forward to breeding Ce Ce to some top sires over the coming years. There's a lot more fun ahead.”

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In horse racing, though, there's no such thing as a sure thing.

After relentless pressure throughout the race, Gamine ultimately relented to finish third, while Ce Ce drove past the 2-to-5 favorite to earn the biggest win of her career.

Ce Ce, a 5-year-old daughter of Elusive Quality kept about three lengths back from the pace out of the gate, as Gamine took the early command in her usual fashion, pressed hard to the outside by Bella Sofia. Gamine clocked the opening quarter-mile in :22.31 seconds, a half-length ahead of Bella Sofia, with Edgeway looming closely behind on the rail.

Ce Ce crept up closer to the lead pack under jockey Victor Espinoza as the field approached the turn. As Gamine clicked a half-mile in :44.92 seconds, Bella Sofia drew up closer to the leader on the outside, and jockey Joel Rosario brought Edgeway up an open spot on the rail to pose a threat.

Those three set themselves up on even terms through the turn, as Espinoza took Ce Ce four-wide and entered the conversation at the top of the stretch. With the inside path, Edgeway took control of the lead from Gamine as they entered the straightaway, and Ce Ce accelerated from the outside at the six-furlong mark, run in 1:08.66.

With all the momentum on the outside trip, Ce Ce carried on past Edgeway, and kicked clear under a hand ride to win the Filly and Mare Sprint by 2 1/2 lengths. Edgeway continued on for second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Gamine.

“I had a lot of horse,” Espinoza said. “She bounced out of the gate, but I decided to sit back and she was nice and relaxed. When I shook the reins at her at the five-eighths pole, I got a little excited. I wanted to go inside, but that spot was taken. But it worked out pretty fine.”

Ce Ce stopped the clock in 1:21 flat in the seven-furlong race over a fast main track. She paid $14.40 to win as the field's third betting choice.

“Around the turn she put in her run and she was very good,” said trainer Michael McCarthy. “It's a proud moment for (Bo Hirsch and I). I wish I would have shaved a little more this morning. Such a fantastic day and fantastic event. Just happy for everybody.  She's been very consistent. I think last year I decided that this year we would go one turn with her. She's been touting herself this week that she was going to run a big one. I'm just glad she did on a stage like today.”

Saturday's Filly and Mare Sprint was Ce Ce's fifth win in her last six starts, and her eighth total career victory, compiling lifetime earnings of $1,753,100. McCarthy trains the homebred mare for Bo Hirsch.

Ce Ce's 2021 campaign has been a dramatic reversal from her 2020 season, when she notched a Grade 1 victory in the Beholder Mile, then stretched out to 1 1/16 miles to take the G1 Apple Blossom Handicap, before eventually finishing fifth in that year's Breeders' Cup Distaff. She was moved back to one-turn races in 2021 to astounding success, coming into this year's Breeders' Cup with wins in the G2 Princess Rooney Stakes and a five-length dismantling of the G3 Chillingworth Stakes.

The only time Ce Ce faced defeat in a sprint race this season was the G1 Ballerina Handicap, where she finished third to Gamine.

Quotes from other connections:

Jockey Joel Rosario (second with Edgeway) – “I was on the inside and I had the room to run, but I was probably just second best today.”

Trainer Bob Baffert (third with 2-5 favorite Gamine) – “She was out there and she just got tired at the end. The winner ran a great race. I really can't make a lot of excuses. She just got tired. I blame myself with the preparation. She had some time off and I think a race in between probably would have helped her. I think I made a mistake there. Now, she'll be ready. Going in, I was hoping I was okay here. The winner is a good filly. She looked great in the paddock. I knew she was the one to beat.”

Jockey John Velazquez (third with 2-5 favorite Gamine) – “When you go that fast early, it's hard to keep up the whole way around when you are pressed all the time. At the quarter pole, I thought she was going to have it, but as soon as I moved my hands and she didn't respond the way I thought, I knew I was in trouble.”

Trainer Rudy Rodriquez (fourth with Bella Sofia) – “We tried to go with Gamine and we set up the race for the third-best horse. I thought we were running good. We got bumped a little bit in the stretch, but I think we were done already at the time. This is what you expect in these big races. They went pretty fast and came home fast and that's what it is.”

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Last year's Filly & Mare Sprint heroine Gamine, looking to become only the second two-time winner of the race following Groupie Doll (Bowman's Band), went to the front, as expected, and was shadowed by GI Longines Test S. heroine Bella Sofia through an opening quarter in :22.31 and a half mile in :44.92 as the Bo Hirsch homebred sat in a dream spot in fourth in the five-horse affair.

Edgeway (Competitive Edge), winner of the local prep GIII Rancho Bernardo H. this summer, snuck through an opening along the inside on the far turn as three of them lined up with Gamine sandwiched in the middle. Ce Ce, meanwhile, patiently waited in fourth.

Ce Ce ranged up with a menacing, five-wide move beneath Victor Espinoza at the top of the stretch and blew by them all down the lane to win going away as much the best while stopping the timer in a sharp 1:21 flat for seven furlongs. It was 2 1/2 lengths back to Edgeway in second. Gamine stayed on for third.

This was the second career Breeders' Cup winner for trainer Michael McCarthy, who won the 2018 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile with the very talented City of Light (Quality Road). He saddled this year's GI Preakness S. winner Rombauer (Twirling Candy) for his first Classic victory. McCarthy was also represented by GI Breeders' Cup Mile runner-up Smooth Like Strait (Midnight Lute) later on Saturday's card.

“When she hit the front today, obviously a little bit reminiscent, it felt like the Preakness, you're certainly happy that they go ahead and show themselves and they're going to run well,” McCarthy said. “Whether they're going to run one, two, three, you don't know, but your job is basically done once they walk on the racetrack. When she hit the sixteenth pole and it looked like no one was coming to her, it was a special feeling.”

It was an emotional victory for Espinoza–his fourth in the Breeders' Cup–who suffered a fracture of the C-3 vertebra in his neck in a tragic morning incident at Del Mar three summers ago when his charge Bobby Abu Dhabi died of an apparent heart attack. Espinoza's last win at the Championships came aboard the brilliant Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Classic.

“My career's been up and down, but nevertheless, I've been down below and I never gave up,” Espinoza said. “And sometimes you hit the ground, but no matter how hard we hit it, when you stand up, you stand up big. And I feel great right now and like I say, it's really special, because my last Breeders' Cup win was American Pharoah, but in between I had a little bit of rough accident and other stuff. Life is interesting and fun, we don't know what's going to happen in the future, but just keep going day by day.

Espinoza continued, “As long as the body essentially is right, you know, it's what I've done my career and that's all I've done my entire life. I've been mentally prepared for when my body is not physically right, then I would sit back and start all over again. But it's almost like my body helped me to go forward and I got to continue riding and ride great horses like Ce Ce, that helps an awful lot, too.”

Ce Ce, heroine of last term's GI Apple Blossom H. going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn and GI Beholder Mile S. at Santa Anita, focused on races going around one turn for her 2021 campaign. Her season was headed by strong wins sprinting in the GII Princess Rooney Invitational at Gulfstream July 3 and GIII Chillingworth S. at Santa Anita last out Oct. 3. She finished third, three lengths behind wire-to-wire winner Gamine in the GI Ballerina H. at Saratoga Aug. 28. Ce Ce was fifth, beaten 4 1/4 lengths, in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland.

Any chance we see her back for a 6-year-old campaign?

“Well, at my stage in life I want more fun than money, and as long as she wants to run, and as long as we know she wants to run, we're going to run for a while,” Hirsch replied.

McCarthy added, “It's a proud moment for [Bo Hirsch and I]. Such a fantastic day and fantastic event. Just happy for everybody. She's been very consistent. I think last year I decided that this year we would go one turn with her. She's been touting herself this week that she was going to run a big one. I'm just glad she did on a stage like today.”

Pedigree Notes:

Ce Ce becomes the third Breeders' Cup winner for the late Elusive Quality, who is also responsible for Raven's Pass (Classic) and Maryfield (F/M Sprint). She is one of 17 Grade I winners/56 graded winners/137 stakes winners for her sire. Ce Ce is one of eight Grade I winners/29 graded winners for Belong to Me as a broodmare sire. Ce Ce's lightly raced dam Miss Houdini was also a Bo Hirsch homebred, and annexed the 2002 GI Del Mar Debutante at second asking. She has also produced GII Arkansas Derby and GII San Fernando S. winner Papa Clem (Smart Strike). Her most recent produce is the unraced 2-year-old Native Thunder (American Pharoah), a $200,000 KEESEP yearling purchase by Lazy F Ranch. Miss Houdini was bred to Mucho Macho Man and Tamarkuz for 2022. Ce Ce's Second dam Magical Maiden was just a $26,000 2-year-old purchase by Hirsch's father Clement and would go on to take a pair of Grade I races in Southern California and earn more than $900,000 before being sold for $400,000 at the 2000 KEENOV sale.

Saturday, Del Mar
BREEDERS' CUP FILLY AND MARE SPRINT-GI, $860,000, Del Mar, 11-6, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:21.00, ft.
1–CE CE, 124, m, 5, by Elusive Quality
               1st Dam: Miss Houdini (GISW, $187,600), by Belong to Me
               2nd Dam: Magical Maiden, by Lord Avie
               3rd Dam: Gils Magic, by Magesterial
O/B-Bo Hirsch LLC (KY); T-Michael W. McCarthy; J-Victor
Espinoza. $520,000. Lifetime Record: 16-8-1-3, $1,753,100.
*1/2 to Papa Clem (Smart Strike), MGSW & GISP,
$1,121,190. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks
report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Edgeway, 124, f, 4, by Competitive Edge
               1st Dam: Magical Solution (SW), by Stormin Fever
               2nd Dam: Boltono, by Unbridled's Song
               3rd Dam: Buckaroo Zoo, by Buckaroo
($35,000 Wlg '17 KEENOV; $275,000 2yo '19 OBSAPR).
O-Hronis Racing LLC; B-Pope McLean, Valerie Blethen &
David Blethen (KY); T-John W. Sadler. $170,000.
3–Gamine, 124, f, 4, by Into Mischief
               1st Dam: Peggy Jane (SP, $102,050), by Kafwain
               2nd Dam: Seattle Splash, by Chief Seattle
               3rd Dam: Grand Splash, by Bucksplasher
'TDN Rising Star' ($220,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP; $1,800,000 2yo '19 EASMAY).
O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-Grace Thoroughbred Holdings
LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $90,000.
Margins: 2HF, 3/4, 1 3/4. Odds: 6.20, 16.60, 0.40.
Also Ran: Bella Sofia, Proud Emma. Scratched: Estilo Talentoso.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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The 5-year-old Quality Road mare settled into third, as Eyes Open and Argentine-bred Scotish Star set a hot pace up front. The lead duo dueled to an opening quarter in :21.99 seconds, four lengths ahead of Ce Ce, who sat a path off the rail under jockey Victor Espinoza.

Ce Ce began to reel in the leaders as they entered the turn after a half-mile in :45.15, and Espinoza took the mare three-wide as they entered the stretch; first passing Eyes Open before drawing even with Scotish Star and going past her without Espinoza needing his crop. Ce Ce breezed through the final furlong, and crossed under the wire five lengths ahead of late-closing 31-1 longshot On Deck, who beat out Scotish Star in the photo for second.

Ce Ce completed the 6 1/2-furlong race in 1:16 flat over a fast main track at Santa Anita. She paid $2.40 to win as the overwhelming post time favorite.

It was the first time Ce Ce had run at 6 1/2 furlongs since March 2020, when she won an optional claiming race at Santa Anita. She has spent most of her 2021 campaign competing at seven furlongs, highlighted by a win in the G2 Princess Rooney Stakes at Gulfstream Park in July.

Sunday's Chillingworth victory was Ce Ce's seventh victory in 15 career starts, and it improved her lifetime earnings to $1,233,100. She races as a homebred for Bo Hirsch, and she is trained by Michael McCarthy.

View the Equibase chart here.

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“She's filled out and she looks good and she's been working well, so we wouldn't send her unless we thought she was doing really well,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “We're excited about it. She always runs well when she goes back East. She likes the Eastern tracks.”

Gamine, a 'TDN Rising Star,' is a perfect three-for-three at the Ballerina's seven-furlong distance and romped home a seven-length winner of last year's GI Test S. in her only previous start at Saratoga.

“She's just brilliant, just a brilliant filly,” Baffert said. “She's fun to watch and people like watching her run. Fans love those kinds of horses, and they count on them.”

Also invading from the West Coast for the Ballerina is Bo Hirsch's Ce Ce (Elusive Quality). Fifth in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, the 5-year-old mare opened 2021 with an optional-claimer win going seven furlongs at Santa Anita in April. She bobbled at the break before tiring to fourth in the 1 1/16-mile GII Santa Maria S. May 22 and cut back and returned to the winner's circle with a 3 1/4-length win over Estilo Talentoso (Maclean's Music) in the July 3 GII Princess Rooney S. last time out.

“She came out of her race in Florida in good order and has trained forwardly,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “This is a race we've had on her calendar for a while.”

Ce Ce won last year's GI Beholder Mile and GI Apple Blossom H. and will be chasing a third Grade I tally Saturday. She comes into the race off a bullet five-furlong drill in :59 flat (1/73) at Del Mar Aug. 20.

“She's always been good. She's caught a couple of racetracks that weren't to her liking, but she's been very good this year,” McCarthy said. “She's wonderful. She is just a treat to train. She enjoys her job and is very classy around the barn. We're very lucky to have one like her. It's a big thrill.”

Godolphin's Lake Avenue (Tapit), winner of the 2019 GII Demoiselle S., narrowly missed out on a second graded victory in both her most recent starts. She lost by a neck when second behind Estilo Talentoso in the June 4 GIII Bed o'Roses S. and was second again by that same margin behind Bell's the One (Majesticperfection) in the July 28 GII Honorable Miss S. last time out.

“She had a good trip the last couple of times. She did get beat both times, but not by much,” trainer Bill Mott said. “Hopefully, she'll put in that same type of effort again this weekend. We're going into a very tough spot, but we want to give her an opportunity in another Grade I. None of these Grade I races on Saturday are easy. They're all tough.”

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Unhurried in midpack between rivals early, the chestnut split foes to make a move inside of slow-starting favorite Estilo Talentoso as they stacked up four across the track. Ce Ce leveled off well after switching leads, and cruised away convincingly from there.

“She's pretty impressive. She loves this track, it's a little different than what she's been running at,” winning rider Victor Espinoza said. “Today, she ran her race. They were rolling, the ones in front of me. I know they're going to get tired turning for home, so I just gave her enough time to split the horses.”

Trainer Michael McCarthy has had past success shipping to Gulfstream–he took the 2019 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. with City of Light (Quality Road), and was third in that event this year with Independence Hall (Constitution).

“I thought we were in a good spot,” McCarthy said from Los Alamitos. “I was hoping to have a bit of a target to run at. I told Victor not to get in a hurry and not rush her out of there and ride her where she was comfortable. We were hoping for a nice stalking trip, and that we did. Around the turn it looked like we had plenty of run. It was just a matter of trying to get outside and finding our best stride, and we did that today.”

He continued, “I thought she was overlooked last year. She won two Grade I races back-to-back. After that we just couldn't find a track that was suitable for her. She was running on tracks in California that were a little bit deep and a little bit loose. She wants one that is a bit firmer and faster, and we found that today.”

McCarthy said he'd map out a plan for his charge after getting her back to California and seeing how she exits Saturday's effort.

Saturday, Gulfstream Park
PRINCESS ROONEY INVITATIONAL S.-GII, $350,000, Gulfstream, 7-3, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:21.94, ft.
1–CE CE, 126, m, 5, by Elusive Quality
                1st Dam: Miss Houdini (GISW, $187,600), by Belong to Me
                2nd Dam: Magical Maiden, by Lord Avie
                3rd Dam: Gils Magic, by Magesterial
O/B-Bo Hirsch LLC (KY); T-Michael W. McCarthy; J-Victor
Espinoza. $197,000. Lifetime Record: MGISW, 13-6-1-2,
$1,113,100. *1/2 to Papa Clem (Smart Strike), MGSW & GISP,
$1,121,190. Werk Nick Rating: C+. 
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Estilo Talentoso, 122, f, 4, Maclean's Music–Bazinga Baby, by
Afleet Alex. ($77,000 Ylg '18 FTKOCT; $95,000 RNA 2yo '19
OBSAPR; $15,000 2yo '19 OBSOPN). O-Medallion Racing, Barry
Fowler, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Little Red Feather Racing &
BlackRidge Stables LLC; B-Mile High Bloodstock LLC (KY);
T-Juan Arriagada. $64,000.
3–Sound Machine, 120, f, 4, Into Mischief–Ava Pie, by Distorted
Humor. ($500,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP). O-e Five Racing
Thoroughbreds; B-Farm III Enterprises (FL); T-Saffie A. Joseph,
Jr. $34,500.
Margins: 3 1/4, HD, 3HF. Odds: 2.70, 1.20, 22.10.
Also Ran: Hallawallah, Pacific Gale, Laura's Light, Heiressall, Thissmytime. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:
Ce Ce is one of 56 graded winners for the late Elusive Quality, and one of 28 graded winners (seven Grade I) for Belong to Me as a broodmare sire. She is one of three highest-level winners by sons of Gone West out of Belong to Me mares–the other two, Jersey Town and Mozu Superflare, are both by Speightstown.

Ce Ce's dam Miss Houdini was also a Bo Hirsch homebred, and annexed the 2002 GI Del Mar Debutante before later producing GII Arkansas Derby and GII San Fernando S. winner Papa Clem. Her 2-year-old colt now named Native Thunder (American Pharoah) was a $200,000 KEESEP buy by Lazy F Ranch. Miss Houdini was subsequently barren to Street Sense and last visited Midnight Lute, though a 2021 foal has not yet been registered.

Second dam Magical Maiden was just a $26,000 2-year-old purchase by Hirsch's father Clement and would go on to take a pair of Grade I races and earn more than $900,000 before being sold for $400,000.

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