Spectator became the first stakes winner for her quick-starting freshman sire Jimmy Creed (Distorted Humor) with a thoroughly dominating performance in the GII Sorrento S. Saturday at Del Mar. The chestnut filly tracked even-money favorite Surrender Now (Morning Line) through an opening quarter in :21.93 and she began to increase the pressure on the pacesetter leaving the backstretch. Surrender Now gave way without a fight and Spectator had the lead after a half in :45.05, she shrugged off a brief challenge from longshot Terra's Angel at the top of the lane and kicked away with authority.
“After she broke her maiden the way she did, we just kind of let her grow up these past few weeks,” said winning trainer Phil D'Amato. “This race has been on the radar from the get-go and we just let her mature and she sure did. She's still trying to figure it out in some ways. She's just a bunch of raw talent and she's getting better and better.”
Winning jockey Jamie Theriot added, “She was a runner all the way. She broke sharp and she went on with it. Phil said, 'Ride it as it comes up.' That's what I did. I think she'll run on, too.”
Flavien Prat, aboard beaten favorite and last-place finisher Surrender Now, said, “By the quarter pole, she wasn't running at all. I just took care of her coming home from there.”
Diamondsandpearls (Congrats), who topped the OBS March sale when selling for $1.7 million, came home an even fourth.
“She slipped coming away from there and she was slipping and sliding all around the track,” jockey Mike Smith said. “She just didn't handle the track.”
Spectator rallied from off the pace to take her five-furlong debut by 5 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita June 23 in her only previous trip to the post–a race which produced four next-out winners.
Pedigree Notes:
Spectator's unraced dam Diva's Tribute, in foal to Strong Mandate, sold to Richard Barton, recent purchaser of Magali Farm, for $4,700 at the 2015 Keeneland November sale. Her Strong Mandate colt was entered, but withdrawn, from last month's Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale. Spectator was the 7-year-old mare's second foal. She produced a filly by Barton's Champ Pegasus this year and was bred back to that stallion.
Spectator is one of seven current first-crop winners for Spendthrift's freshman sire Jimmy Creed, who won the 2012 GI Malibu S. The stallion has also been represented by Tremont S. third-place finisher Admiral Jimmy and D. S. Shine Young Futurity third-place finisher Cajun Creed.
Saturday, Del Mar
SORRENTO S.-GII, $200,690, DMR, 8-5, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:17.66, ft.
1–#@SPECTATOR, 123, f, 2, by Jimmy Creed
1st Dam: Diva's Tribute, by Henny Hughes
2nd Dam: Swiss Diva, by Swiss Yodeler
3rd Dam: One Stop, by Mr. Leader
O-Rick & Sharon Waller; B-Eric & Sharon Waller (KY); T-Philip
D'Amato; J-Jamie Theriot. $120,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0,
$152,400. *First SW for her freshman sire (by Distorted
Humor). Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”glennwood-raised”][bullet ad=”kbif-g2g3″]2–Dancing Belle, 118, f, 2, First Samurai–London Mist, by Afleet
Alex. ($200,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-Big Chief Racing, Rocker O
Ranch, W. Detmar, J. Desormeaux & G. Voss; B-John D.
Gunther (KY); T-J. Keith Desormeaux. $40,000.
3–Terra's Angel, 118, f, 2, Drosselmeyer–Vindicated Angel, by
Vindication. ($7,500 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-Johnny B. Evans &
Terry Eoff; B-Hargus & Sandra Sexton & Silver Fern Farm, LLC
(KY); T-Dallas E. Keen. $24,000.[bullet ad=”warrendale-sold-congratulations-to-all-the-connections”]Margins: 5 1/4, 4HF, 6 1/4. Odds: 4.20, 17.60, 56.70.
Also Ran: Diamondsandpearls, Spirit of Shanghai, Midnight Summer, Surrender Now.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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