Clement Hirsch

Pozo de Luna's Blue Stripe (Arg) (Equal Stripes {Arg}), a Group 1 winner in her native country, scored her first top-level win in the big leagues of American racing Saturday, conquering odds-on defending champion Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) and three other rivals in Del Mar's GI Clement L. Hirsch S. The victory in the Win and You're In qualifier punched Blue Stripe's ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. Annexing the G1 Criadores last May Hipodromo in Argentina for trainer Nicolas Martin Ferro, the bay was ambitiously spotted in the Distaff in...

A competitive field, highlighted by three top-level scorers, are set to face off Sunday in the GI Clement L. Hirsch S. at Del Mar, a "Win and You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. Ce Ce (Elusive Quality) scored back-to-back wins in the Mar. 14 GI Beholder Mile and Apr. 18 GI Apple Blossom H. Favored to repeat in the GII Santa Maria S. back at Santa Anita, she could only manage third behind the re-opposing Fighting Mad (New Year's Day) and 'TDN Rising Star' Hard Not to Love...

Well, I guess even Clement L. Hirsch might have had to scratch his head once or twice, if he were still around, to help confront the challenges facing Santa Anita over the past year or so. But there's no doubt that we could all, in the present crisis, usefully emulate the spirit of altruistic dynamism by which he sustained Californian racing in his own time. In 1969, Hirsch and his partners began a game-changing, not-for-profit enterprise at the Oak Tree Racing Association and established a similar regime at the Del...