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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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Reversal Of Fortune For Top Two Finishers In Shared Belief

Approaching the track to greet his returning Shared Belief Stakes winner Thousand Words, Bob Baffert couldn't help but smile and say, “We don't need Uncle Chuck.”

Then, with his next breath: “That was weird. That was a weird run race.”

Statements that fairly well summed up the Shared Belief at Del Mar, a Kentucky Derby prep race for the first, and let us pray last, time ever. The COVID-19-necessitated move of the Run for the Roses to September 5 put the Shared Belief in line as a prelim for West Coast-based Derby hopes and made it a spot for Baffert to choose from his array of 3-year-old standouts and John Shirreffs to run Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A.P.

Baffert entered three – undefeated (2-for-2) Uncle Chuck and Cezanne plus Thousand Words, whose Derby stock had dipped with three straight defeats. He worked Uncle Chuck on Saturday morning in preparation for the $1 million Travers Stakes next Saturday at Saratoga and scratched him from the Shared Belief.

The race then unfolded strangely with 1-5 favorite Honor A.P. getting bumped at the start by Cezanne, moving up to press the pace set by Thousand Words on the backstretch before dropping a length behind, going three paths wide turning into the stretch and surging too late to catch the wire-to-wire leader and losing by three-quarters of a length.

“You wouldn't think a Baffert horse is gonna pay $20 (actually $20.40) in a four-horse field,” Baffert said with a wry grin. His assessment: something about Del Mar had brought out the best in Thousand Words.

“I thought he had a chance to win today,” Baffert said. “I could tell he was a different horse down here. His whole mind changed. His color changed. He had soured out on me, but we got him going the right way. I think he earned his way to the Derby.”

The 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points from the Shared Belief increased Thousand Words' total to 83 and vaulted him to No. 7 on the list. The opportunity is there should the owners – Albaugh Family Stables of Dennis Albaugh and Jason Loustch, and B. Wayne Hughes' Spendthirft Farm – choose. It appears to be a logical path toward recouping more of the $1-million spent on the colt at the Keeneland September sale in 2018.

Thousand Words was accorded a Beyer Speed Figure of 104, which was 13 points higher than the son of Pioneerof the Nile's previous best in the Los Alamitos Futurity last December. Honor A.P. received a Beyer of 102, identical to his number in the Santa Anita Derby victory.

Honor A.P.'s 140 Derby points is third behind Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law (272) and Baffert's recent Haskell Invitational champ Authentic (200).

“If you liked Honor A.P. as your Derby horse before, it (Shared Belief) didn't change anything,” Daily Racing Form correspondent Brad Free said Sunday morning.

Mike Smith, aboard for all five of Honor A.P.'s starts, was quick to point out one change in the routine leading up to the race. Due to COVID-19 protocols, jockeys are prohibited from access to the stable area in the mornings and cannot ride workouts. Trainer John Shirreffs tried unsuccessfully to get an exemption so Smith could be aboard for the colt's final work a week before the race.

“I haven't been able to get on him in the mornings and I think that's made a difference,” Smith said. “He's just been going along there not doing much in the mornings. I need to be on him. But that's the way it is now; just the way it is.”

Shirreffs' comment, provided by text: “Horses know the difference between an exercise rider and a jockey so they respond differently in their work. Jockeys also have the acute awareness of the horses' effort. Trainers prepare horses by increasing workloads. The riders have to communicate to the horses in subtle situations of asking for a little more or saying that's enough for today.

“Why take the best we have and not allow them to help horses?”

Thousand Words and Honor A.P. both came out of the race well, their trainers said. Cezanne was “a little tired” after losing stamina in the 1 1/16-mile race.

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Glatt’s Belief In Twirling Candy And Offspring Paid Off With 1-3 Bing Crosby Finish

Collusion Illusion and Law Abidin Citizen, the first-and third-place finishers in Saturday's Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar in Del Mar, Calif., are both sons of Twirling Candy that trainer Mark Glatt picked out for clients at sales.

It's not a coincidence.

“I was stabled next to John Sadler when Twirling Candy was running and just thought he was an amazing-looking animal and certainly a very good racehorse,” Glatt said. “I thought that when he goes to stud maybe I'll have an opportunity to pick up one or two of (Twirling Candy's progeny).”

He picked both Law Abidin Citizen and Collusion Illusion for a group based in his native state of Washington – Dan Agnew, Jerry Schneider, John Xitco and Dr. Rodney Orr.

Six-year-old Law Abidin Citizen didn't wilt after being close to a fast early pace and held on to secure a third-place award of $30,000 and go over the $500,000 mark in career earnings. Three-year-old Collusion Illusion, given a heady ride by leading jockey Flavien Prat, rallied along the rail in the final furlong to edge Lexitonian on the wire.

Twirling Candy stands at Lane's End in Versailles, Ky., where his fee was $40,000 for the 2020 breeding season.

It was Collusion Illusion's fifth win in six lifetime starts. The $150,000 winner's share of the purse increased his career earnings to $398,751.

But, more importantly, as a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the $2-million Breeders' Cup Sprint, it secured entry fees and travel expenses for the shortest and fastest of the events at the championships at Keeneland in November.

It also was the first Grade 1 stakes victory for Glatt, 47, who obtained his training license after graduation from Western Washington in 1994 and made a gradual southward move that brought him to Southern California in 2000.

“We're going to enjoy the win,” Glatt said. “November is a long time away in this game, but I'm sure we'll figure out a way to get him there one way or another.”

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Fighting Mad Caps Another Big Weekend for Baffert

Lightly raced Fighting Mad (New Year’s Day) zipped away early and held sway late to take Sunday evening’s GI Clement L. Hirsch S. at Del Mar and stamp her ticket to the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Looking to add to another productive weekend for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert that included Saturday scores in the GI Whitney S. and Shared Belief S., the Gary and Mary West homebred was backed down to 9-5 favoritism from a 4-1 morning line quote and wasted little time seizing command. Under a tight Abel Cedillo hold, the bay doled out splits of

:23.15 and :46.55 before being asked to kick away from her competition heading for home. Defending champion Ollie’s Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}) and MGISW Ce Ce (Elusive Quality) were scrubbed on to try and reel in the leader approaching the stretch, but Fighting Mad began to open up at the head of the lane as Ce Ce was the first to capitulate. Ollie’s Candy kept on gamely to cut things close late, but Fighting Mad found the wire with a half-length to spare. Ce Ce held on for a distant third, while the accomplished Hard Not to Love (Hard Spun) never reached contention and brought up the rear.

“I had the same instructions today that I had yesterday [for Thousand Words {Pioneerof the Nile} in the Shared Belief]–get her out of there and see if you can get to the front,” Cedillo said. “She really broke sharply and wanted 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.”

Sunday, Del Mar
CLEMENT L. HIRSCH S.-GI, $250,500, Del Mar, 8-2, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:43.46, ft.
1–FIGHTING MAD, 123, f, 4, by New Year’s Day
                1st Dam: Smokey’s Love, by Forestry
                2nd Dam: Smokey Mirage, by Holy Bull
                3rd Dam: Verbasle, by Slewpy
1ST GRADE I WIN. O-Gary & Mary West; B-Gary & Mary West
Stables Inc. (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Abel Cedillo. $150,000.
Lifetime Record: 8-5-1-0, $444,008. Werk Nick Rating: B+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Ollie’s Candy, 123, m, 5, by Candy Ride (Arg)
                1st Dam: Afternoon Stroll, by Stroll
                2nd Dam: Gertie, by Danzatore
                3rd Dam: Granny Ruth, by Key to the Mint
($45,000 RNA Ylg ’16 KEESEP). O/B-Paul & Karen Eggert (KY);
T-John W. Sadler. $50,000.
3–Ce Ce, 125, f, 4, by Elusive Quality
                1st Dam: Miss Houdini, 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. $30,000.
Margins: HF, 4 3/4, 3 1/4. Odds: 1.80, 3.40, 2.40.
Also Ran: Hang a Star, Dogtag, Hard Not to Love.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

“I was a little bit worried about her because she was getting pretty warm in the paddock, but Abel knows her pretty well and he knows speed is her weapon,” Baffert said. “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. ”

A nose graduate on debut here in her lone juvenile start two years ago, Fighting Mad resurfaced at Churchill to take an allowance last April. She faded to seventh in Pimlico’s GIII Miss Preakness S. that May, and resurfaced back at Del Mar to be a close second in an optional claimer July 19. Fighting Mad’s first two-turn attempt resulted in an eight-length romp in the GIII Torrey Pines S. Aug. 17, but she was again sidelined after that. The bay crossed the wire fourth in Santa Anita’s six-furlong GIII Desert Stormer S. May 17 before being moved to fourth by the stewards, and belied 10-1 odds last time when running away with the GII Santa Maria S. in Arcadia May 21 over Hard Not to Love and Ce Ce and recent GIII Molly Pitcher S. scorer Horologist (Gemologist).

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