Leading Breeders’ Cup Distaff division rivals square off Saturday at Del Mar in the Grade 1 $400,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes. The 1-1/16 miles test matches contenders from the east, midwest and west coast. It’s part of an 11-race program that also includes the $150,000 California Dreamin’ Stakes.
Let’s meet the contenders for the Clement Hirsch (Race 10):
#1-FLYING CONNECTION: Well-traveled filly based in New Mexico makes a return trip to Del Mar for trainer Todd Fincher. She was runner-up here last summer in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines. Four-year-old season has included placings in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn and Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on the Kentucky Derby Day undercard at Churchill Downs. Jockey Joe Talamo is a 3-time winner of this event (2007, 2012, 2014).
#2-ADARE MANOR: Standout leader in the west coast Distaff division looks to defend her title in the Clement Hirsch after a 1-length score last summer over re-matched rival Desert Dawn ('23 Hirsch pictured above). Can join Azeri, Zenyatta and Stellar Wind as the only back-to-back Hirsch winners since 1975. Bob Baffert trainee is 14-for-17 in the exacta lifetime and owns back-to-back wins in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Santa Anita and Grade 2 Santa Margarita at Santa Anita coming into this. Uncle Mo filly can top $2 million in lifetime earnings with a victory Saturday. Should be on or near the lead with Flying Connection in a race that doesn’t have a blistering pace.
#3-SCYLLA: Kentucky-based filly has won 5 of 7 starts, including Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 Shawnee and Grade 2 Fleur de Lis amongst her active, 3-race winning streak. Trainer Bill Mott turns to jockey Mike Smith in a pairing of Hall of Famers that doesn’t happen often these days. Their last major stakes win together came in 2014 at Gulfstream. Smith has won the Hirsch 6 times, 1 off of Chris McCarron’s race record. Mott’s last local victory came with Harmonize in the 2016 Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks.
#4-COFFEE IN BED: Santa Anita’s Grade 2 Santa Maria winner in April, she was second-best to Adare Manor in the Grade 2 Santa Margarita. Dropped both Del Mar decisions last summer, including a distant fourth in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines. Richard Mandella, who won this race in 2015 with Beholder, turns to jockey Kazushi Kimura as regular rider Mike Smith hops saddles to Scylla on Saturday.
#5-DESERT DAWN: The 2022 and 2023 Clement Hirsch runner-up rarely gets her picture taken, winning 3 of 21 overall and just 1 of her last 14 since capturing the 2022 Santa Anita Oaks. Trainer Phil D’Amato hasn’t been able to solve Adare Manor with this 5-year-old Cupid mare; she’s finished behind that rival 4 times in the last 14 months. Late-running style would appreciate fast pace, but that does not appear on paper.
#6-SUGAR FISH: Most lightly raced member of the Hirsch makes her seventh lifetime start while firing off a 3-race winning streak. The Jeff Mullins trainee has shown vast improvement during her 3-year-old season since moving to this barn, culminating last out with a 9-3/4 length victory in the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks. This will be her first start against elder stakes rivals.
#7-OLIVIA TWIST: Second of two Todd Fincher trainees in the Hirsch, she’s less accomplished than stablemate Flying Connection. Mshawish 4-year-old has won just 1 of 8 stakes attempts, the listed Trapeze at Remington Park at the end of her juvenile season in 2022. Could be part of the pace mix having sprinted twice in her last 3 starts.
#8-PRETTY MISCHIEVOUS: Eclipse Award winner as 2023’s Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, this Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks and Grade 1 Acorn winner makes her first trip west. The last Kentucky Oaks winner to add the Clement Hirsch was Goodbye Halo in 1988-’89. Trainer Brendan Walsh could be getting a Breeders’ Cup trial of sorts as this Into Mischief filly makes her third start of the season. Pretty Mischievous ran third in the Grade 1 La Troienne on the Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs and then third again in the Grade 1 Phipps at Saratoga during the Belmont Stakes festival. Back-to-back bullet workouts in Louisville before taking to the air. Umberto Rispoli takes over the mount for the first time.
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