Blowout Outlasts Regal Glory To Win First Lady, Earn BC F&M Turf Spot

Blowout may not have blown the field away, but she did have plenty of gas for a gate-to-wire win in the Grade 1 First Lady Stakes at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., earning a spot in the starting gate for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

The Chad Brown-trained mare broke from post nine and jetted out to the lead in the opening strides of the one-mile stakes, drawing out to a two-length advantage entering the first turn. La Signare and Regal Glory trailed her within striking distance down the backstretch, but Blowout was able to run easily on the lead, setting fractions of :23.76 for the first quarter and :47.75 for the half mile.

Around the far turn, jockey Jose Ortiz made a bold move with Regal Glory, sending her zipping up on Blowout's outside, nearly on even terms entering the stretch. On the good Keeneland turf, the two entered the stretch dueling, with Ortiz and Regal Glory trying to get past Blowout in the race's final furlong. Under jockey Flavien Prat, Blowout was able to hold on, winning the G1 First Lady by a half-length. Empress Josephine was third. The final time for the one-mile stakes was 1:34.86.

Find this race's chart here.

Blowout paid $12.60, $6.40, and $4.80. Regal Glory paid $7.40 and $5.00. Empress Josephine paid $8.20.

The First Lady Stakes is a part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series. Winners receive a fees-paid, guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the corresponding Breeders' Cup race, to be held Nov. 6 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“She's a really special filly for us, for my boss, Chad Brown. She does everything we ask. She's improving a lot. She came here to Keeneland and gave a really good performance. She's as good as she can be. She tries every time she runs,” assistant trainer Baldo Hernandez said after the First Lady.

“As usual she showed a lot of speed out of the gate, and I was able to get myself comfortable on the lead where I didn't have too much pressure. She relaxed well down the backside. She fought really hard down the lane because she lost the lead for a little bit, but she dug in and fought back and really made a great stretch run,” jockey Flavien Prat told the Keeneland Communications Office after the race.

Bred in England by Dayton Investments Ltd., Blowout is a 5-year-old mare by Dansili (GB) out of the Deep Impact (JPN) mare Beauty Parlour (GB), winner of the 2012 French One Thousand Guineas. She is owned by Peter Brant and trained by Chad Brown. Blowout was consigned by The Castlebridge Consignment and sold for $481,095 to Whitebirch at the 2016 Goffs November Foals Sale. With her win in the G1 First Lady, she has two wins in three starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of five wins in 14 starts and career earnings of $988,600.

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Lord Grimthorpe: Witnessing Greatness From Within

Following a year in the racing world when all has changed, if not utterly, then significantly, a further adjustment to the norm is brought about by the departure of Lord Grimthorpe as Juddmonte's racing manager.

Royal Ascot 2021 will mark the end of a 22-year stint in the role which has seen him closely allied to some of the greatest names in the sport's modern history as the public face of the operation which is as admired as much as it is successful. That admiration extends to Grimthorpe himself, better and more informally known as Teddy. He was Teddy Beckett when he was first appointed to his role by Prince Khalid Abdullah in 1998, and he later succeeded his father as the 5th Baron Grimthorpe in 2003. 

Racing was in the blood of this Yorkshireman. His grandfather owned the 1947 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Fortina (Fr), while his father brought him closer to the sphere which would come to dominate these past two decades of his working life as the breeder of Mrs McArdy (GB), winner of the 1000 Guineas in 1977.

Twenty-two years later that same race would provide the first Classic winner overseen by Grimthorpe for Juddmonte when the Henry Cecil-trained Wince (GB) (Selkirk) triumphed in the season that both Guineas were run on Newmarket's July Course.

“I was brought up in a sort of fairly horsey fashion. I rode out–I don't think he would call it that–but I did ride out for Jimmy FitzGerald, I think when I was still at school,” Grimthorpe recalls with typical modesty.

Stints at Lindsay Park Stud in South Australia and Nydrie Stud in Virginia, as well as completion of the National Stud course, gave way to another decent term of 22 years with the British Bloodstock Agency (BBA) before Grant Pritchard-Gordon's imminent departure from Juddmonte presented an opportunity to relish.

He continues, “I went to meet the Prince in the middle Sunday of the December sales. I didn't know if he was interviewing lots of other people. But anyway, he welcomed me into his office and said, 'I'm just here to welcome you to the club'. So I thought that was a pretty good job interview, really, but it was typical of Prince Khalid. Of course he had done a little bit of research on me, or I imagine he had.”

 

 

When his impending departure was first announced in April, Grimthorpe recalled with some amusement in a TV interview the time he was asked by a racegoer if his job was merely to collect cups. Pleasingly, there have been many trophies to gather during Juddmonte's 40 years, but Grimthorpe's responsibilities have naturally run far deeper. 

After all, this is an operation where no detail is overlooked–from planning a mating, through to conception, foaling, nurturing, training, racing, and often back to stud. An in-depth knowledge of the Juddmonte families is a pre-requisite, and an understanding of the traits and foibles associated with certain bloodlines essential when helping in the decision-making of assigning horses to trainers.

“Of course, the racing is the end product and a vital one,” he says. “I think from an enjoyment point of view [what I have enjoyed most] is the development. It's knowing the stallions, knowing the mares–generations of mares. I mean when Lucid Dreamer (GB) won her maiden, she was a sixth generation Juddmonte-bred. So those sorts of things–knowing the families, and growing up with the families, and seeing what they produce and what sort of horses, and what sort of temperaments, what sort of types. They then would go to France and Ireland to be broken in there. You just sort of saw them on a regular basis throughout summer and autumn, to see how they develop and then really you're in a good position to advise, in my case, Prince Khalid and, of course, latterly the family where they might be best suited. That was a decision on the whole that Prince Khalid always took. He took a huge amount of trouble in trying to allocate his horses to where he wanted them to go. So it was my job to give him the background and the facts to help him make these decisions.”

As important as knowing the bloodstock was forming good relationships with trainers, and in Grimthorpe's tenure he has worked with some of the legendary names in world racing. And as the eighth anniversary of the death of Sir Henry Cecil  has passed this week, he is remembered still with fondness and admiration.

“Henry was not what I'd call a 'stand by your beds' man,” Grimthorpe says. “But he slightly pretended to be a bit more informal than he actually was. Originally [head lad] Paddy Rudkin told me that they thought that he was sort of daydreaming around the yard. Actually they soon realised that he wasn't daydreaming, he was just taking in all the rhythms. He had an extraordinary eye.”

He continues, “So he was very different to John Gosden, who is utterly brilliant. Andre [Fabre], his CV is second to none. On the American side, Bobby Frankel, he was a unique man and had a great depth of thought about the game, and how it was run and what the horses wanted. He had quite a gruff outside, but he had a very soft inside, Bobby.

“Prince Khalid chose his trainers very, very carefully. Really it was slotting the right horses to the right person. I think good horses on the whole are going to be good horses with good trainers. I think if you get to the likes of Frankel, it's hard to think that Frankel wouldn't have been a very, very good horse, but I don't think the story would have been so fantastic without that sort of combination, and likewise Enable and Frankie [Dettori] really, and of course John. It's those sort of dynamics that make it all interesting.”

With such a wealth of equine talent to draw from, Grimthorpe is understandably reluctant to nominate one individual as a personal favourite. “Like Andre said, I don't rate my friends,” he says with a smile. “I always thought that was such a good get out, because many of them really had fantastic stories and great, great histories.”

He is, however, happy to compile his own version of Juddmonte's greatest hits from the last two decades.

“From the early days, Dansili (GB) was the first of Hasili's progeny to hit the racecourse. I was always incredibly fond of him. Prince Khalid certainly had huge faith in him. He always said that probably if he'd been better managed he would have won at least two Grade Is. He covered the last quarter-mile in the Breeders' Cup Mile in twenty-one and change, and still finished third. I mean a half a nose past the post, he was a length clear practically. So it was always frustrating. Prince Khalid said, 'We're going to treat him like a Group 1 winner', so he came back to the stud.”

He adds, “I went through a barren period when I started the job. We had no winners at all. Wince, when she won the Fred Darling, was the first winner in England that I'd managed. She of course went on to win a Classic. 

“I always loved Twice Over (GB) because he was such a gent. He was the most mild-mannered, honest, straightforward, wonderful horse. He really was. And of course, Famous Name (GB), that Dermot [Weld] trained, won 21 Pattern races.”

He reflects on 2003 as a particularly special year for the organisation worldwide.

“Prince Khalid had Nebraska Tornado, who won the Prix De Diane, Oasis Dream (GB), who was a champion sprinter, and [Belmont S. winner] Empire Maker, all in three different jurisdictions, almost outstanding horses of their particular generation. So that was exciting,” he says. “Then there's the likes of Midday (GB) winning a Breeders' Cup and Kingman (GB)–we still can't work out how he got beaten in the 2000 Guineas. Of course, he had redemption, especially at Ascot, but more so, I thought, in the Sussex Stakes.”

In the minds of many racing fans, two Juddmonte horses tower above all others during Grimthorpe's tenure: Frankel (GB) and Enable (GB). It is nine years since Frankel's final appearance at Royal Ascot for his imperious romp in the Queen Anne S. and, unusually, he has remained almost as much in the public eye as he was in his racing days since his retirement to Banstead Manor Stud. For not only has he shown himself to be a high-calibre stallion in the time but he has also taken part in endless photo calls with visitors to the stud as well as acting as an important fundraiser as an equine ambassador for the East Anglian Children's Hospice.

“I think everyone from Prince Khalid downwards in Juddmonte was pretty much aware that Frankel had the potential to be something special from a pretty early stage,” Grimthorpe notes. ” When we put a saddle on him and he started moving, you know, he made the heart skip a beat, no question about that. Then he started running, and you're thinking, 'Oh, this could be good'. It kept on going up the scale. I think he then grew in the public's minds because he kept on winning. Therefore, it sort of snowballed and he was able to jump outside the the back part of the sporting pages.”

He continues, “Henry at that stage was undergoing his cancer treatment and so was mentally unbelievably strong, but physically quite frail. Prince Khalid said to me, 'I want you to take this on. I don't want Henry to be under any pressure in terms of the press and the publicity and all that'. Then, of course, we talked about Frankel often and endlessly. I did say to him once, 'You do realise you're going to have to share this horse now with the wider world'. 

“He was a very private person, Prince Khalid. He'd always kept it like that with his horses but he certainly understood that this was going to have to happen. He was fully on board because he realised what a phenomenon Frankel was for the whole racing business. He was a great major story of an alpha male. The story of Henry and him, obviously with two great stories individually, but together they made for a massive story.”

If Frankel sustained his trainer through his own torrid battle with cancer, so did Enable for her owner/breeder. The great mare last set foot on a racecourse on Oct. 4 last year when attempting to win her third Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. A little over three months later Prince Khalid died at the age of 84. Frankel may have been his 'alpha male' crowning glory as a breeder, but Enable, unusually and specially kept in training as a 6-year-old, was Juddmonte's queen.

“I always felt that when helping to make the decisions on whether they stay in training, I think there's always the same questions you ask yourself,” explains Grimthorpe. “Is she sound? Is she happy? Has she got targets? What's the programme? Most importantly, what does the owner want to do?

“Enable she was the most extraordinary lady. She wanted to do it. I mean she really wanted to know why she wasn't being fed first in the morning. Why she wasn't going out first thing, or why she wasn't cantering first, or why she wasn't galloping. She was the most vociferous, extraordinary person like that. So she pretty much told us what she wanted to do. She told John first, obviously. So from that point of view, it was something that Prince Khalid and the family really enjoyed.”

He adds, “I think the target of a third Arc was a big enough carrot to try. I think if you have horses of the calibre of Enable, to try and test them as much as you can is not unreasonable.”

If no favourite horse can be named, then a favourite moment from many memorable occasions during the 22 years is easy to come by, particularly for the man who all but grew up on the Knavesmire.

“There's no doubt that on the racecourse, the 22nd August 2012 was it for me for so many reasons,” he says of Frankel's seven-length victory in the Juddmonte International S. when asked to race beyond a mile for the first time.

“Obviously Frankel stepping up to the mile and a quarter for Prince Khalid's flagship race. I was chairman of York racecourse, so I did think if things went badly I could lose the only two jobs I had. But it was an extraordinary day in every possible way. The great Yorkshire crowd came in droves, people were sitting around the paddock from the first race onwards. People kept coming up to me from arrival onwards, [there was] the excitement, the buzz.”

Cecil, too, had a strong attachment to Yorkshire, and made the trip to watch his star pupil make his penultimate start despite his failing health. 

Grimthorpe recalls, “Prince Khalid came. Henry was determined to come, even though Prince Khalid had said he didn't need to. He said, 'I'm coming'. He looked very frail that day, but he was determined to come and and the horse delivered.”

The Prince and Sir Henry are now sadly departed. Frankel continues in his pomp, heaping reflected glory on the Juddmonte operation through his first Derby winner, Adayar (Ire), for their rival team of Godolphin. As the final day of Royal Ascot gives way to a Classic Sunday in France–a regular pilgrimage for Grimthorpe through the last 22 seasons–so a new chapter will begin. The man who had the privilege of watching this extraordinary story unfurl from the inside, and who remains the epitome of the discreet and diplomatic racing manager, will hand over that title to Barry Mahon from June 21.

As deputy senior steward of the Jockey Club, Lord Grimthorpe will not be lost to racing, or indeed to his beloved York, where he remains on the board of the racecourse. Indeed, the sport could not ask for a more passionate advocate in all it is currently trying to achieve in Britain.

“The ethos is that we want people to come racing,” he says of York in particular but in a manner that should be extended nationally. 

“Therefore, if you want people to come racing, you've got to deliver it. First and foremost, a very friendly face at the first gate you walk into. Good facilities so people actually are happy to eat and drink what's on offer. To get fantastic horses, you've got to have fantastic prize-money. To have fantastic prize-money you have to have fantastic crowds, and so it goes on. So from that point of view, York embodies that very much. Equally so, if you fall down in one of those, then you fall down in the whole lot, and people understand that. I mean, everybody at York understands that. So it is getting the collective to buy into everything that we're trying to do. Trying to make it better, improve everything: it's a never-ending process.”

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Blowout Scores Front-Running Victory In Churchill Distaff Turf Mile

In each of her last seven starts, Chad Brown-trained Blowout was in front in the early stages of her races, so it was not surprising to see jockey Flavien Prat put Peter Brant's 5-year-old Dansili mare in front when the field raced past the Churchill Downs grandstand for the first time in Saturday's Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile in Louisville, Ky.

When the field reached the far turn, with about three-eights of a mile to run, Blowout had opened a commanding lead of about eight lengths. It wasn't insurmountable, however, as the field began to close in on Blowout at the top of the stretch. New York Girl and Abscond looked as though they might run past the front-runner, and then New York Girl came flying late.

But Prat had just enough horsepower left to get to the finish in front with Blowout, crossing the wire with a half-length to spare in 1:36.30 for the one mile on firm turf. The fractions were :24.28, :48.39, 1:12.99 and 1:24.71. Irish-bred New York Girl, trained by Bill Mott and ridden by John Velazquez, finished second, a head in front of Brendan Walsh-trained Zofelle, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., The latter nosed out  Abscond, who finished fourth, with Got Storm fifth and She's Got You sixth. Jakarta was scratched.

Sent off as the 9-5 favorite, Blowout paid $5.80 for the win.

“She was running so easy up front and I thought the times were not that fast, so I was very happy,” said Prat. “Then when we came to the eighth pole, they all came after me and it looked like they might go by. But when she saw them, she regrouped and fired up again and we won it.”

Bred in England by the Wildenstein family's Dayton Investments Ltd., Blowout was produced from Deep Impact mare Beauty Parlour, winner of the 2012 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French 1,000 Guineas). She was purchased by Brant as a foal in Ireland at the Goffs November Sale in 2016.

“She has a tendency to wait on horses and we preferred to have a target but when the 1 scratched she found herself on the lead,” said Brown. “I thought Flavien did an excellent job settling her down, as you can see, she can be a little difficult to handle. I thought once they turned for home they were going to close in again and she was going to wait for horses but he said when she had the horses behind her, she kicked in again, thankfully. It's very rare for me (to have a horse build a big lead), as you know a lot of my horses come from off the pace but we learned with this horse to let her do her thing and that's where she wants to be. Mr. Brant was really determined to get a Grade 1 with her, it's a wonderful family; he owns the mother. She was so close in the Matriarch and she did what Blowout does when she makes the lead, she waits on horses. A lot of her defeats are not due to fatigue it's that she likes to wait on horses. She can be difficult; she wants to be forward, and she pulls, but she's actually better with a target. And it's hard to find two-turn races for her with a target because she's so fast. She had it momentarily in the Matriarch but when she surged to the lead, she lost it and waited. I thought that might happen today turning for home; as easy as the fractions were for her, :48, you'd think she'd be gone, and sure enough they closed in on her because she will wait for horses. I thought they'd (the others) be a little closer than that. I was surprised with how far in front she was at one point. But guided by the fractions, looking at it, from a stamina point there was no issue. At that point it was mental. She'll be heading to the Just a Game at Belmont next.”

Winner of three races, with seven seconds and one third from 11 starts, including the Wild Applause Stakes and Pebbles Stakes at Belmont Park in 2019, the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile was her first graded stakes score.

Prat first rode Blowout in her most recent start, the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar last Nov. 29, where she lost by a nose to Brown stablemate Viadera.

Owner Peter Brant (right) with Blowout and jockey Flavien Prat

 

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Milestone Keeneland Win For Juddmonte As Juliet Foxtrot Takes Jenny Wiley Field Wire To Wire

Juddmonte Farms' homebred Juliet Foxtrot (GB) took the lead out of the gate and cruised to a two-length victory over Tamahere (FR) to win the 33rd running of the Grade 1, $300,000 Coolmore Jenny Wiley Stakes for fillies and mares on a soggy Saturday afternoon at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

The performance marked the 16th graded stakes victory at Keeneland for Juddmonte. In honor of the historic milestone, Juddmonte received a Keeneland Pitcher as part of Keeneland's signature Milestone Trophy Program. Juddmonte becomes the fourth owner to win a Keeneland Pitcher.

It is the fourth victory in the race for Juddmonte, whose previous triumphs came with Tates Creek in 2002 and Intercontinental (GB) in 2004 and 2005.

Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, Juliet Foxtrot covered the 1 1/16 miles on a yielding turf course in 1:44.51. It is the first victory in the race for Cox and Gaffalione and was the third winner of the afternoon for Cox.

Gaffalione put Juliet Foxtrot right on the lead and led the field of six through fractions of :24.35, :49.45 and 1:13.72 with Tamahere tracking in second.

Juliet Foxtrot maintained a daylight margin into the stretch and never was threatened in the run down the lane.

The victory, the first Grade 1 for Juliet Foxtrot, was worth $180,000. A 6-year-old daughter of Dansili (GB) out of the King's Best mare Kilo Alpha (GB), Juliet Foxtrot increased her earnings to $701,831 with a record of 20-6-2-3.

Sent off as the favorite, Juliet Foxtrot returned $5.40, $3.40 and $2.80. Tamahere, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., returned $4 and $3.20 and finished a neck in front of La Signare (FR), who paid $3.80 to show under John Velazquez.

It was another three-quarters of a length back to Etoile (FR), who was followed in order by Maxim Rate and Micheline.

Post-race quotes:

Tyler Gaffalione (winning rider of Juliet Foxtrot [GB])
“She really relished the ground. They said that they worked her a couple weeks back over a turf course similar to this and they said she just ate it up. As soon as she broke, I could feel that I had a ton of horse and she was loving every bit of it. I just put my hands down when she broke and she came right back to me. It was an easy ride today.”

Garrett O'Rourke (of winning owner Juddmonte Farms)
“I think there was a confidence that she would be able to handle the soft turf because she had been here a couple years ago and we had a filly that we knew, Gaining (GB), that had won here, and we knew Gaining liked the soft turf and they had worked together on soft turf.

“Tessa (Bisha, trainer Brad Cox's assistant) and Brad both said she loves this. That's a while ago. She's run some great races since. She has been Grade 1-placed and placed in this race last year. It was brave on behalf of everybody at Juddmonte to make the move to keep her (in training) for one more year to try to win that elusive Grade 1. This is huge for the mare. She looked absolutely magnificent today, and for as consistent of a performer as she's been, I just think she thoroughly deserves it, which makes it all the more sweet for us.”

On Juddmonte earning its 16th graded stakes win here to receive a Keeneland Pitcher – part of the track's signature Milestone Trophy Program. Only three other owners have earned the Keeneland Pitcher: Claiborne Farm [Fall 1968], Bwamazon Farm [Spring 1983] and William S. Farish [Spring 2003].

“It's taken a lot of effort over the years and a tremendous amount of commitment from (the late) Prince Khalid and now his family and sons. It's a great tribute for the effort and planning and perseverance of the whole operation. And it's been a fun ride.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. (rider of runner-up Tamahere [FR])
“She was sitting in a good spot and when the horse in front opened up entering the far turn, we ended up being second best.”

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