Blowout, Regal Glory 1-2 for Brown in First Lady
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Blowout (inside) outruns Regal Glory (center) and Empress Josephine in the First Lady Stakes at Keeneland
Blowout played a game of "catch me if you can" in the $400,000 First Lady Stakes Presented by UK HealthCare (G1T) Oct. 9 on the Keeneland turf and none of her 11 rivals could.
With Flavien Prat riding, the 5-year-old Dansili mare got just enough of a favorable trip to hang on at the end and win by a half-length, something she had been unable to do in five of her six previous starts—all of them pacesetting efforts.
At the end of the one mile on the "good" Keeneland turf, Regal Glory was second, giving trainer Chad Brown and owner Peter Brant a 1-2 finish. Two highly regarded international raiders, Empress Josephine from the Irish Coolmore operation, and Godolphin's hope and race favorite Althiqa , were third and fourth.
Blowout had fallen into a familiar rut of making the going and weakening late. She was fourth in the Aug. 14 Fourstardave Handicap (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course in her last start after winning the Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes (G2T) at Churchill Downs May 1.
Before that, she had suffered four consecutive agonizing losses, finishing second by a nose, two necks, and less than a length, in a stretch going back to the Pin Oak Valley View Stakes (G3T) over the same Keeneland turf during the 2020 fall meeting.
Prat said this time around the course, he was getting a better feeling.
"Anything can happen," Prat said. "But on the backside, she was running freely and she was happy. In the stretch, she was brave.
"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."
Blowout is greeted by her connections after winning the First Lady Stakes
The victory earned Blowout a "Win and You're In" spot in the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T), which will be run Nov. 6 at Del Mar. That is 1 3/8 miles, likely against even tougher international rivals, which might be beyond Blowout's distance limits. Brown has campaigned her as a miler.
Asked whether Blowout might move along to the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile Presented by PDJF (G1T), Prat said, "We'll see."
Brown, who stayed behind at Belmont Park, was not on hand to witness his exacta finish. Assistant Baldo Hernandez said of Blowout, "She's as good as she can be. She tries every time."
Brown won the First Lady for the fourth straight year. He has five wins in the race overall.
Regal Glory, a 5-year-old Animal Kingdom mare, entered off a victory in the Fasig-Tipton De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 8. She, too, seems to find a mile her most comfortable distance.
Althiqa, a 4-year-old Dark Angel filly, went to the post as the favorite in the First Lady after winning her first two U.S. starts for trainer Charlie Appleby. In both of those grade 1 wins in New York, the striking gray filly came from well off the pace—a style that came back to bite her as she found herself in traffic trouble when jockey Jamie Spencer tried to make his move early in the lane.
"We were tight into the first turn," Spencer said. "In the stretch, we couldn't get out. We just needed a little more racing luck."
Althiqa first tried to shift out from the rail, found no daylight, and once back inside, could not regain the momentum.
Empress Josephine, a 3-year-old filly by Galileo , outran her 11-1 odds. She showed brilliance in winning the Tattersalls Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1) at the Curragh in May, then turned in two dreadful efforts before finishing a promising fourth in the Coolmore America Justify Matron Stakes (G1) at Leopardstown Sept. 11 for trainer Aidan O'Brien.
In the First Lady, jockey John Velazquez kept Empress Josephine firmly in midfield and was making up ground through the final furlong, beaten only one length in the end.
Bred in Great Britain by Dayton Investments, Blowout is out of the Deep Impact mare Beauty Parlour , a group 1 winner in France. All three of her foals to race are winners. Her unraced produce includes a 2-year-old Galileo filly named Bouffant, and an unnamed yearling filly by the same sire.
Brant purchased Blowout under his White Birch Farm name for the equivalent of $481,095 from the 2016 Goffs November Foal Sale from The Castlebridge Consignment. Blowout now has a record of 5-7-1 from 14 starts and has earned $988,600.