Manitoba-Bred Escape Clause Springs Upset at Del Mar

As the inquiry was ongoing following the finish of the $75,000 Kathryn Crosby Stakes at Del Mar, both Anna Meah and Don Schnell's phones were blowing up.

Texts and calls were flooding in for Meah, who just began her training career and appeared to get her first win with Excellent Sunset in the one-mile turf test, and for Schnell, whose Escape Clause came in second but was impeded in the stretch by the winner. Either result would have been a tremendous accomplishment, so family and friends were excited.

One great story was dashed, as the Del Mar stewards decided to disqualify Excellent Sunset, but another was pushed to the forefront, as 18-1 longshot Escape Clause—a Manitoba-bred Going Commando filly who has primarily raced in Canada—claimed her ninth straight victory in her Southern California racing debut and her first start on grass.

"It felt good even to run second. When they moved me up, it felt a lot better," said Schnell, who owns and trains the filly. "But when I watched the replay, they made the right decision. (Jockey) Ruben (Fuentes) said he'd have won if she didn't get stopped."

Schnell—who is based at Assiniboia Downs (Winnipeg) in the summer, Century Downs (Calgary) in the fall, and Turf Paradise in the winter—has now trained the 4-year-old Escape Clause to 18 wins from 25 starts, including nine straight victories at five racetracks since June (Assiniboia, Canterbury Park, Northlands Park, Century, and Del Mar).

"I know she's been running against weaker company, but anybody who has won eight or nine in a row, they've got to have a little try—a little talent. I've only got 20 more to go and I'll catch up to Winx," he said with tongue firmly in cheek. "Confidence is such a huge part of a racehorse. When they've got confidence, they're like a goaltender in hockey—when they're confident, they can stop anything, but when they're not, they can let one in from the red line. And she's got a lot of confidence."

That confidence was on display at the top of the lane, after Fuentes worked out a stalking trip for Escape Clause. Others were moving earlier and wider in the second turn, but Fuentes was unmoved in the irons until he went to work in the stretch. Excellent Sunset had moved three wide to the front in the second bend, but Escape Clause mounted her challenge on the inside when Excellent Sunset came into her path under jockey Mario Gutierrez.

Replays didn't show without a doubt whether Excellent Sunset was clear when she came in, but the move caused Fuentes to check Escape Clause. Despite the trouble, the filly fought on and was beaten just a half-length at the wire.

Things hadn't gone perfectly for Excellent Sunset, either, as she was in tight quarters and had to check in the first turn. Meah took solace in how well her first stakes starter performed, but that didn't entirely take away the sting.

"It's hard for me to say (whether it was the right call) because I didn't see any direct contact," said Meah, a former assistant and exercise rider for Art Sherman (she galloped California Chrome  near the end of his career) and Richard Baltas who now has two seconds from three starters. "I don't think the other horse would have passed her, but it's up to the stewards at the end of the day. In our minds, we won the race and she did very well.

"It was very tough. I've been very confident all week that this was going to be a win, but it didn't end the way we anticipated. But she's going to be a fun filly down the road, which is really exciting."

For Schnell, the journey with his filly has been a delight, with some oddities along the way.

He had to enter one of his own cheaper claimers in the Distaff Stakes Aug. 18 at Assiniboia, in what turned out to be a lopsided match race because others refused to run against her.

"And you should have heard the crowd cheer," he said. "She's got quite a following up there. They cheered like it was a million-dollar race."

Back in 2017, at the end of a separate five-race win streak for Escape Clause, Schnell even ran her in two stakes four days apart at Assiniboia. She won the first by 12 3/4 lengths and the second by 9 3/4.

So the decision to run on the grass at Del Mar, as crazy as it might have seemed, wasn't really crazy at all, because she's been able to handle pretty much everything Schnell has thrown at her.

"The last time I ran her at Century Downs (in the Oct. 21 CTHS Sales Stakes), she won by (nine) lengths and ran a track record. She came back to the test barn and didn't even draw a deep breath," Schnell said of the filly who has earned $345,500 in purses and was purchased for $3,792 out of the 2015 Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society Yearling Sale in Manitoba. "After that race, I said, 'We've got to go somewhere while she's good. Maybe we'll try her once on the turf while she's good.' That's when you should try new things—when they're good. You don't want to try something different when they're down.

"She's so tough. She's like a gelding or a stud horse."

So what's another step up? Why not aim for the stars?

"I train a lot of cheaper horses and I've been reasonably successful with them, but I probably have to say I've never had one as good as she is. Would they lock us up in the nuthouse if we tried the Matriarch (G1T, Dec. 2 at Del Mar)?" Schnell asked.

Video: Kathryn Crosby S. (BT)