After four straight tough beats, speedster Blowout opened up a big lead early and dug down late to belatedly make the grade. A two-time listed winner at three, Blowout was also either second or third that year–always beaten less than a length–in the GIII Florida Oaks, GIII Lake George S., GII Lake Placid S. and GIII Valley View S. Second again in a Saratoga allowance last August, the bay was beaten that margin by stablemate Viadera (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}) in Belmont's GIII Noble Damsel S. Sept. 26, and by just a nose in the GI Matriarch S. at Del Mar Nov. 29.
Piloted for the second-straight time by California-based Flavien Prat, the Chad Brown trainee glided to the front with no resistance, immediately opening up some five lengths into the first turn. She seemed keen, but wasn't going overly quick through splits of :24.28, :48.39 and 1:12.99. The cavalry charge drew closer in the stretch, and Blowout looked to be in deep water, but she kept finding a little bit more to hold on.
“She was running so easy up front and I thought the times were not that fast, so I was very happy,{ Prat said. “Then when we came to the eighth pole, they all came after me and it looked like they might go by. But when she saw them, she regrouped and fired up again and we won it.”
Brown added, “She has a tendency to wait on horses and we preferred to have a target but when [Jakarta] scratched she found herself on the lead. I thought Flavien did an excellent job settling her down, as you can see, she can be a little difficult to handle. I thought once they turned for home they were going to close in again and she was going to wait for horses but he said when she had the horses behind her, she kicked in again, thankfully. It's very rare for me [to have a horse build a big lead], as you know a lot of my horses come from off the pace, but we learned with this horse to let her do her thing and that's where she wants to be.”
The GI Just a Game S. on the GI Belmont S. undercard June 5 will be next.
“[Owner Peter] Brant was really determined to get a Grade I with her, it's a wonderful family; he owns the mother. She was so close in the Matriarch and she did what Blowout does when she makes the lead, she waits on horses. A lot of her defeats are not due to fatigue it's that she likes to wait on horses. She can be difficult; she wants to be forward, and she pulls, but she's actually better with a target. And it's hard to find two-turn races for her with a target because she's so fast.”
Saturday, Churchill Downs
LONGINES CHURCHILL DISTAFF TURF MILE S.-GII, $500,000, Churchill Downs, 5-1, 4yo/up, f/m, 1mT, 1:36.30, fm.
1–BLOWOUT (GB), 118, m, 5, by Dansili (GB)
1st Dam: Beauty Parlour (GB) (G1SW-Fr, $713,308), by Deep Impact (Jpn)
2nd Dam: Bastet (Ire), by Giant's Causeway
3rd Dam: Benediction (Ire), by Day Is Done (Ire)
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. (€450,000 Wlg '16 GOFNOV).
O-Peter M. Brant; B-Dayton Investments Ltd. (GB); T-Chad C.
Brown; J-Flavien Prat. $306,900. Lifetime Record: 12-4-7-1,
$718,600. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Werk Nick Rating: A++.
2–New York Girl (Ire), 118, f, 4, New Approach (Ire)–Annee
Lumiere (Ire), by Giant's Causeway. (32,000gns Wlg '17
TATFOA). O-R Unicorn Stable; B-P. F. Kelly & Peter Kelly (IRE);
T-William I. Mott. $99,000.
3–Zofelle (Ire), 118, m, 5, Zoffany (Ire)–Height of Elegance (Ire),
by Galileo (Ire). (27,000gns 3yo '19 TATJUL). O-Heider Family
Stables LLC; B-Fullbury & Minch Bloodstock (IRE); T-Brendan P.
Walsh. $49,500.
Margins: HF, HD, NO. Odds: 1.90, 8.20, 2.50.
Also Ran: Abscond, Got Stormy, She's Got You (GB). Scratched: Jakarta.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Pedigree Notes:
Blowout is the 86th grade/group winner for pensioned super sire Dansili; and 10th, of what will be many more, for late Deep Impact as a broodmare sire. Dam Beauty Parlour took the 2012 G1 French One Thousand Guineas and was second in the G1 French Oaks. The daughter of French SW/MGSP Bastet and full to SW/MGSP Barocci (Jpn) topped the 2016 Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale at €1.6 million, selling to Brant while in foal to Kingman (GB) and as part of the Wildenstein Stables dispersal. Brant's White Birch purchased Blowout for €450,000 during the foal portion of the same auction. Beauty Parlour produced Galileo fillies in both 2019 and 2020. She hails from the extended female family of champions Might and Power (NZ) and Lucky Owners (NZ).
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
