Longshot Sacred Wish (Not This Time) just outlasted favored Gina Romantica (Into Mischief) to win the GI Matriarch Stakes and give her sire a sweep of the two graded events at Del Mar Sunday. The 4-year-old filly had finished on the board in six graded events, but the Matriarch was her first win at the graded level and her defeat of Gina Romantica put an end to trainer Chad Brown's string of four straight victories in the race.
Dismissed at 12-1, Sacred Wish sat just off pacesetting Ag Bullet (Twirling Candy) while racing along the rail behind fractions of :23.32 and :47.57. Gina Romantica, making the final start of her career, was in the next pair back and inched closer as the field entered the far turn to loom a threat three wide into the stretch. Sacred Wish finally tipped out a path off the rail at the top of the lane, getting first run on the favorite. She reeled in the pacesetter in deep stretch and had just enough momentum to hold Gina Romantica off by a neck at the wire, completing the mile in 1:34.76.
“She is a great horse,” jockey John Velazquez said of the winner. “I thought she would take me farther down in the lane, and I could get her going along the turn. And it worked out perfect. The horse in the lead [Ag Bullet] took me where I thought. She pulled out and she had a nice kick to fight down the lane.”
Blair Golen, assistant to winning trainer George Weaver, added, “Ag Bullet just set it up perfect for her. She wasn't going too fast, was comfortable behind horses, and was able to go up the rail and get it done this time. Johnny already had it in his head that, instead of waiting for her, he was going to ask her to go and where she put herself is where she was going to be. He's ridden her so well in the past. He gets along with her good and I'm just so happy he was able to come out and ride her.”
Sacred Wish, a neck short when second in the 2023 GI Coaching Club American Oaks, came into the Matriarch off runner-up efforts in the July 20 GIII Matchmaker Stakes and Aug. 31 GIII Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Stakes and a third-place finish in the Nov. 2 GIII Goldikova Stakes.
Pedigree Notes:
Sacred Wish became the 19th graded winner for Not This Time, whose son Clock Tower became his 18th just an hour or so earlier with his win in the GIII Cecil B. DeMille Stakes.
Indian Wish has a yearling colt by Knicks Go, who sold for $40,000 at Keeneland September, and she was bred to Epicenter this year. She is a half-sister to Grade I-placed Sister Girl Blues (Hold for Gold), the dam of GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Firing Line (Line of David), as well as to the dams of Grade I winners Sharp Azteca (Freud) and Bowies Hero (Artie Schiller).
In the name of his Chromedome Partners, John Penn purchased Indian Wish, with Sacred Wish in utero, for $22,000 at the 2019 Keeneland November sale.
Sunday, Del Mar
MATRIARCH S.-GI, $303,000, Del Mar, 12-1, 3yo/up, f/m, 1mT, 1:34.76, fm.
1–SACRED WISH, 123, f, 4, by Not This Time
1st Dam: Indian Wish, by Indian Charlie
2nd Dam: Sister Girl, by Conquistador Cielo
3rd Dam: Scipio, by Danzig
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $70,000 RNA Ylg '21 KEESEP; $50,000 2yo '22 EASMAY). O-Black Type Thoroughbreds, Swinbank Stables, Steve Adkisson, Christopher T. Dunn and Anthony Spinazzola; B-John R. Penn (KY); T-George Weaver; J-John R. Velazquez. $180,000. Lifetime Record: 17-4-6-3, $985,138. Werk Nick Rating: B+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Gina Romantica, 123, m, 5, by Into Mischief
1st Dam: Special Me, by Unbridled's Song
2nd Dam: Delta Danielle, by Lord Avie
3rd Dam: Domasco Danielle, by Same Direction
($1,025,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Machmer Hall, Carrie Brogden & Craig Brogden (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. 60,000.
3–Ag Bullet, 123, f, 4, by Twirling Candy
1st Dam: Noble Grey, by Forestry
2nd Dam: Never Fail, by Holy Bull
3rd Dam: Peaceful Intention, by Hold Your Peace
($30,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $220,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Calvin Nguyen and Joey C. Tran; B-H & E Ranch (KY); T-Richard Baltas. $36,000.
Margins: NK, 3/4, 3/4. Odds: 12.80, 1.30, 3.00.
Also Ran: Tax Implications (GB), Aspen Grove (Ire), Child of the Moon (Fr), Mouffy, Nadette (Fr), Aussie Girl (Ire), Prerequisite, Tirupati. Scratched: Kehoe Beach.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
Down to the liiiiiine. 🎙️
Sacred Wish storms to victory in the Grade I Matriarch. pic.twitter.com/p0bQvcC7nl
— Del Mar Racetrack (@DelMarRacing) December 1, 2024
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