clement l. hirsch stakes | Horse Racing Free Tips

Shedaresthedevil Romps In Clement L. Hirsch, Earns Breeders’ Cup Distaff Spot

Flurry Racing Stables, Qatar Racing Limited or Big Aut Farms' Shedaresthedevil walked her beat Sunday at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, Calif., and came away a handy 3 1/4-length winner of the Grade 1, $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes.

The big bay daughter of Daredevil broke smartly, sat just behind the speed, then went to the front when rider Florent Geroux gave her the signal on the far turn and left little doubt as to who the best horse was Sunday in the 1 1/16-mile headliner.

Trainer Brad Cox sent assistant Eric Gary west with his 4-year-old and he watched her cover the distance in 1:45.38, drawing away from her rivals at the finish.

Running second in the Hirsch was the pacesetter, Ciagila Racing, Highland Yard, et al's Venetian Harbor, who had 3 1/4 lengths on Mathiesen Racing, Feghali, et al's Paige Anne. Fractions were :23.30, :47.21, 1:11.77 and 1:38.33.

Shedaresthedevil, who went off at 13-10, returned $4.60, $2.60 and $2.60 across the board. Venetian Harbor paid $3.20 and $3.60 and Paige Anne returned $5.80 to show.

“I'm very pleased,” said Geroux. “The idea was to get her to break alertly, then get a good spot. That's exactly what happened. She ran her race today and she's very good when she does. I'd have to say she's up there with the best mares I've ever ridden. And his is her third Grade 1 win. And the fact that she showed she can run well on the track where the Breeders' Cup will be held, that's a good thing, too.”The win was worth $180,000 to Shedaresthedevil and pushed her sizable bankroll past the $2 million mark to $2,047,318. She now has won eight of 15 starts with two seconds and four thirds besides.

The Hirsch was a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff, which will be run at Del Mar on November 6 at nine furlongs. Shedaresthedevil earned a fees-paid berth in the Distaff.

“We sat right off the lead, nice, calm and relaxed and when it was time to go she showed up like she was supposed to,” said Gary, Cox's assistant. “We had a good stalking position and when I saw they went the half in :47, I thought we were going to be OK. Being around her this morning, I had a really good feeling that she was going to run big today. She flies back tomorrow (to Kentucky) with some other horses and then I guess she'll be back in November. ”

The track's Pick Six Single Ticket Jackpot wager carried over for the eighth straight day. The sum that will be in the pool when racing resumes Thursday starting at 2 p.m. will now be $686,925.

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Shedaresthedevil Returns To Del Mar Ready To Run In Grade 1 Hirsch

Shedaresthedevil departed Del Mar in September of 2019 after competing in two stakes races for 2-year-old fillies.

The daughter of Daredevil had finished third in the $200,000 Grade 2 Sorrento before being switched from dirt to grass for a fourth-place result after setting the pace in the $100,000 Juvenile Fillies Turf on the closing day of the meeting.

Shedaresthedevil stepped off a van in the stable area of the track Wednesday evening following a journey from Kentucky. And trust Eric Gary, the assistant to trainer Brad Cox who arrived a while earlier, the two years had made a big difference.

“She is one big, mature filly,” said Gary.

Gary, a Louisiana-born, second-generation trainer has only been working for nationally prominent Cox for a couple of months. But with Cox and his son Blake occupied at Saratoga with Essential Quality in Saturday's $600,000 Grade 2 Jim Dandy, among others, Gary got the call to travel with and saddle Shedaresthedevil for Sunday's $300,000 Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

Shedaresthedevil, whose five graded stakes victories in 2020-21 include the 2020 Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks and 2021 Grade 1 La Troienne, both at Churchill Downs, is the 7-5 morning-line favorite for the Hirsh, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Gary estimated that Shedaresthedevil might “be pushing toward 18” hands in height – nearly 6-feet measured at the withers, or top of the shoulder. He invited a visitor into the stall to stand next to her for verification and it produced no argument.

“She's very easy going around the barn, but very aggressive when it's time for training or racing,” Gary said.

Shedaresthedevil won four times and was never out of the money in seven starts in 2020 for earnings of $1,193,070. This year, she's 2-for-3 with wins in the Grade 2 Azeri at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., in March, the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., in April, and a third to Letruska, the current No. 1 rated older filly or mare on dirt, in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on June 5 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

All three races were at 1 1/16 miles, the same distance as the Hirsch. Because of the huge layout of Belmont Park, the Phipps was contested around one turn. Connections for Shedaresthedevil are hoping that a return to two turns creates a return to the winner's circle.

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Del Mar will be her fourth track in as many starts this year.

“She travels really well,” Gary said. “We've had her out a couple times and she has handled the track really well. I think this race has probably been a part of the plan for her all along. The ultimate goal is the Breeders' Cup here, so that would figure.”

Shedaresthedevil did her serious training at Ellis Park in Kentucky and got high praise from Cox's assistant there according to Gary. Race instructions and strategy will be up to Cox and jockey Florent Geroux.

“They're very close, I know they're very happy with the way she has trained and they have a plan they've already talked about,” Gary said.

The Clement L. Hirsch field from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parenthesis: Warren's Showtime (Juan Hernandez, 8-1); Clockstrikestwelve (Kyle Frey, 30-1); As Time Goes By (Mike Smith, 8-5); Paige Anne (Flavien Prat, 15-1); Cover Version (Abel Cedillo, 30-1); Venetian Harbor (Mario Gutierrez, 2-1) and Shedaresthedevil (Florent Geroux, 7-5).

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Bing Crosby Nominations Promises Deep Field Of Sprinters At Del Mar

Seventeen horses, encompassing virtually all the top sprinters on the West Coast, have been nominated to Saturday's $300,000 Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes, assuring that the field will be a stellar one when it is set and post positions are drawn on Wednesday.

Trainer Mark Glatt finished first and third in the 2020 Crosby with Collusion Illusion and Law Abidin Citizen. He has those two plus Dr. Schivel nominated and said Sunday he might run all three.

Other marquee speedsters on the nomination list include 2020 Pat O'Brien winner C Z Rocket for Peter Miller; the trio of Ax Man, Eight Rings, and Gamine from the Bob Baffert barn; graded stakes winner Flagstaff from the John Sadler stable; and the double-quick Cal-bred Brickyard Ride out of the Craig Lewis barn.

Sadler said Flagstaff will skip the Bing Crosby and instead go in the seven-furlong Pat O'Brien here on August 28.

Baffert said the 4-year-old filly Gamine, a winner of six graded stakes in her last seven starts – four of them Grade 1s – is more likely to continue competing against her own gender elsewhere than take on males in the Bing Crosby.

But Gamine is one of 11 older fillies and mares nominated to next Sunday's Clement L. Hirsch, as is stablemate As Time Goes By. A 4-year-old daughter of Baffert-trained Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, As Time Goes By is one of three stakes winners at Santa Anita that are possibles for the Hirsch, a 1 1/16-mile main track event that usually determines the top older filly or mare of the meeting.

The others are Venetian Harbor and Warren's Showtime.

The 6-furlong Bing Crosby is a “Win & You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar on November 6. The Clement L. Hirsch is likewise designated for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff that same day.

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Fighting Mad ‘Ran Them Off Their Feet’ In Del Mar’s Clement L. Hirsch

Gary and Mary West's homebred filly Fighting Mad bolted out of the gate to the lead Sunday in the $250,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes and then never looked back, outrunning five classy rivals to capture the first Grade I race of her career at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

Abel Cedillo was aboard the 4-year-old daughter of New Year's Day as she covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.46 for her half-length tally. She is trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert.

“I had the same instructions today that I had yesterday (for his victory on Thousand Words for trainer Bob Baffert in the Shared Belief Stakes),” said Cedillo. “Get her out of there and see if you can get to the front. She really broke sharply and want to go right away. I got her to relax some on the backside, then she went right on with it. She's just an amazing filly.”

Finishing second in the filly-mare headliner was Paul or Karen Eggert's Ollie's Candy, who had won this race last year. Running third was Bo Hirsch's Ce Ce. Hirsch is the son of the man the race is named for.

Fighting Mad picked up a check for $150,000 for the win and moved her bankroll up to $444,008 after her fifth win in eight starts. As the 9-5 favorite, she paid $5.60, $3.00 and $2.20 across the board.

Because she took the Hirsch, Fighting Mad is now a “Win & You're In” Challenge Race winner, meaning she gets a guaranteed spot in this year's $2-million Breeders' Cup Distaff along with all her fees paid for the championship race. The nine-furlong crucible runs Saturday, November 7, at Keeneland in Lexington, KY.

Baffert and Cedillo won the Shared Belief Stakes with Thousand Words in a very similar scenario to the Hirsch. He, too, was quickly sent to the front and made every pole a winner. The pair also teamed earlier in the session with the Wests' Maximum Security to win the San Diego Handicap.

“I was a little bit worried about her because she was getting pretty warm in the paddock,” said Baffert. “But Abel (Cedillo) knows her pretty well and he knows speed is her weapon. To look at her you wouldn't think she could go (a distance), but when she started opening up, I figured he must know what he's doing. Basically, she ran them off their feet. The way she acted in the paddock, she ran an incredible race. She was trembling and sweating and I was worried, but once the race started she was pretty serious. ”

Earlier on the card, C T R Stables' Positivity, ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, withstood a claim of foul and won the $100,500 Graduation Stakes for 2-year-old California breds by half a length. The Paynter colt ran five and a half furlongs in 1:05.49 and picked up a winner's share of $57,000.

J. Kirk and Judy Robison's Good With People made all the fractions in the race, but tired late and had to settle for second. KMN Racing's Scooby was third.

Positivity won his only other start – a straight maiden race at Santa Anita on May 22 – and now has $87,000 on his earnings ledger.

The victory for his trainer, Luis Mendez, was his second at Del Mar. Last year he won this same race with Big Returns via disqualification.

Positivity paid $13.20, $4.80 and $3.60 across the board.

Sunday's riding star was Van Dyke with three firsts. Flavien Prat and Juan Hernandez each won two races. Prat now leads the riders' standings with 18 first after 10 days of racing.

Racing returns to Del Mar Friday with first post at 2 p.m.

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