Slammed Dusts Rivals in Thoroughbred Club of America

There went Slammed , winging her way out around the old dirt track at Keeneland just like she was supposed to do.

The 4-year-old daughter of Marking  was the speed Oct. 8 in the $350,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2), her place at the front of an eight-horse field unquestioned through the early going.

The turn for home was another matter. That's where the New Mexico-bred filly could have faltered in her first grade 2, a huge step up against Kentucky bluebloods on the world stage.

Instead, she kept on going.

Widening away to a 6 1/2-length victory in the six-furlong test Saturday in Lexington, Slammed left her rivals in the dust with a swish of her long black tail, ears pricked as she hit the wire in a final time of 1:10.03 under Florent Geroux. Not only did she qualify for the Nov. 5 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Keeneland through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, provided she is ultimately nominated to the Breeders' Cup program, but she put her sire in the spotlight, along with trainer and co-breeder Todd Fincher.

"New Mexico (doesn't) get much recognition as far as trainers or horses, and she's a superstar—she belongs with the best," said Fincher, who bred Slammed in partnership with Brad King and trains her for King, Suzanne Kirby, and Barbara Coleman. "We've always thought she was good enough, and the timing was right, and everything's worked right now so perfectly. It's a great feeling."

From the first crop of Marking, a grade 1-placed son of Bernardini, Slammed had Fred Alexander of A & A Ranch—which stands the stallion—smiling all the way to the winner's circle.

"We're so happy," Alexander said. "It's unbelievable to come here to Keeneland and run against these kinds of horses... and the way she did it, it's just amazing. It's really a big deal for our state."

Alexander foaled and raised Joe Allen's millionaire Peppers Pride, widely considered the best New Mexico-bred of all time. But by stepping outside of New Mexico, where the undefeated Peppers Pride made all 19 of her starts, Slammed threw her hat in the ring for attention in her own right.

"I foaled Peppers Pride at my farm, and I had her sire, Desert God, so what can I say?" Alexander remarked. "But this filly's gone off, whereas Pepper's Pride stayed in the state and did all her work. Two fantastic fillies."

Fantastic indeed was Saturday's performance by Slammed, who rocketed from the gate Saturday, went straight to the lead, and never looked back. After posting splits of :22.75, :46.02, and :57.71, the bay filly wrapped up her dazzling display in a final time of 1:10.03.

"My worry was getting out of the gates good and clean, and once she did that, I was very confident," Fincher said. "Very uneventful, until they turned for home, when she just drew away from a very nice bunch of horses—and that was very exciting for me."

Happy Soul  galloped home best of the rest, with Joyful Cadence  half a length behind to complete the trifecta.

The 2-1 favorite, Slammed returned $6.78 on a $2 win ticket.

"She knows what to do out there," Geroux remarked. "I'm very pleased for the opportunity from (trainer) Mr. Fincher and the owners and my agent for getting me the mount. I was just the lucky recipient today on her. Very excited about her.

"She relaxed very nicely (in the middle of the race). You can tell on television, when their ears start going back and forth, it's usually a good sign that the horse is taking their time and having fun out there. As soon as I chirped to her a little bit at the three-sixteenths (pole), I had plenty of horse left, and I just tried to keep her focus all the way to the wire."

Fincher is also the trainer of Joey Peacock's Senor Buscador , who won an automatic, paid berth in the Nov. 5 Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) with his Oct. 1 Ack Ack Stakes (G3) score at Churchill Downs.

"Crazy," Fisher said of finding himself with not one, but two Breeders' Cup contenders. "It's unbelievable to ever even have one good enough to be in the Breeders' Cup, coming from New Mexico where us trainers don't get opportunities. All these really nice farms, they don't look to a trainer in New Mexico to try to get their horse to a Kentucky Derby Breeders' Cup, so we have very limited opportunities. And this is just unbelievable to have two in one year. Just crazy.

"We've got a great team here, two guys, two horses, and they've done an outstanding job," Fincher added, "And the horses are the stars. We love them like you can't believe."

Out of the stakes-winning Roll Hennessy Roll mare Hennesey Smash, Slammed also produced New Mexico restricted stakes winner Roll On Diabolical  and Smash Ticket , a Midnight Lute   filly who won the Weather Vane Stakes this year at Pimlico Race Course and was third in the 2021 Sorrento Stakes (G2) at Del Mar. The mare also has an unraced 2-year-old Arrogate filly named Arro Smash and produced a Star Guitar   colt March 5. She was bred to City of Light   for 2023.

Improving her record to nine wins and a second from 12 starts, Slammed upped her earnings to $557,030. Her connections will be required to pay a $200,000 fee to nominate her as a Horse of Racing Age to the Breeders' Cup since her sire is not Breeders' Cup nominated.

Slammed came into the TCA off a runner-up finish to 2021 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint runner-up Edgeway  in the Aug. 28 Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3) at Del Mar, her first start in graded company.

"She's good, she's awesome. We know how good she is," Fincher said. "In her last race she had a couple things go against her, and she fought all the way to the wire, and today everything went perfect, and we got to see what she's made of. She's a superstar. We're very, very proud of her, especially for a New Mexico-bred."

Video: Thoroughbred Club of America S. (G2)