Half to Beholder, Into Mischief Wins Keeneland Debut
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Photo: Keeneland/Coady Photography
Marr Time wins her debut at Keeneland
The regally bred Marr Time lived up to her lofty pedigree with a 2 3/4-length debut score Oct. 28 in the fifth race at Keeneland. The Clarkland Farm homebred is the penultimate foal out of 2016 Broodmare of the Year Leslie's Lady, making her a half sister to four-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder , to perennial leading sire and grade 1 winner Into Mischief , and to grade 1 winner Mendelssohn .
A star in the making! #4 MARR TIME makes her career debut a winning one @KeenelandRacing! Keep your eyes out for this 2YO daughter out of Leslie's Lady in the future! @FloTheJock aboard for @BradCoxRacing & Clarkland Farm. @SpendthriftFarm 2YO Race of the Day pic.twitter.com/2FGFbrxAUx
— TVG (@TVG) October 28, 2021
Bet down as the heavy 3-5 favorite against a field of 10 maidens, the 2-year-old daughter of Not This Time was no secret to bettors after lighting up the morning work tab the last month at Keeneland. Three works back on Oct. 10, Marr Time clocked a bullet :59 2/5 five furlongs from the gate for trainer Brad Cox.
After breaking sharply from the 4 post, Marr Time bulled her way to the front and dueled with Roll Baby through a first quarter in :22.84 before putting aside that rival. Still on cruise control around the turn, the filly clocked a half-mile in :46.74 and was set down to a drive for the final quarter mile, surging away to a clear victory while kept to task under jockey Florent Geroux.
Marr Time was timed in 1:11.96 for the six furlongs on a fast main track.
"You can watch them work in the mornings and get your hopes up but you never know how their going to run till the bell rings and they cross the finish line," Fred Mitchell of Clarkland Farm said following the race.
Looking to the future, Mitchell added: "I'll leave it up to Brad (Cox) and see what he wants to do with (Marr Time) next."
Mitchell said Marr Time didn't go through the auction ring, unlike her famous half siblings, because he wanted to retain a filly or two out of Leslie's Lady for his daughters in the broodmare band. Leslie's Lady, who produced her seventh winner with Marr Time, was retired from breeding in June of this year. The final foal from the 25-year-old is a yearling Kantharos filly named Love You Irene.
In 2019, Mitchell told BloodHorse the story behind the filly's name.
"The reason for that is because my wife's father was John Wesley Marr," he said. "When the time changed, he would never change his clocks, and we always stayed on Central time. So about this time of the year, we'd always be two hours behind. So with her being by Not This Time, we chose Marr Time. It'll be a nice memory for the kids and the grandkids to have, and she can come back and join the broodmare band."