Adare Manor becomes a Grade 1 winner (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Del Mar Press Release/Edited
DEL MAR, Calif.— Michael Lund Petersen’s Adare Manor took up a perfect stalking spot through the early part of Saturday’s $400,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar, then worked hard through the lane for rider Juan Hernandez to outdo a pair of trainer Phil D’Amato’s fillies and take down honors in the Grade I headliner by a length for trainer Bob Baffert.
The 4-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo was winning her fourth consecutive race in the process, with the previous two being a pair of Grade II stakes at Santa Anita. This was her first triumph in Grade I company, and the $240,000 winner’s purse push her bankroll up to $861,600.
H & E Ranch’s Desert Dawn closed nicely late, but couldn’t overtake the winner, but finishing a length and a half better than stablemate Elm Drive, who is owned by Little Red Feather Racing and cut out all the pace in the mile and one-sixteenth on the main track.
Fractions for the one and one sixteenth miles contest were :23.31, :46.68, 1:11.30 and 1:36.78 with a final time of 1:43.33. The Hirsch record was set by Windy Sands at 1:40 flat on August 4, 1962.
“She (won) the last three races and today was four. She’s been improving a lot. I just have to help her out of the gate because she was a little slow out of the gate today, but by the first turn she found a nice rhythm. I let her be quiet a little bit and save her energy. At the quarter pole I asked her to pick it up and she exploded again to the wire. She is a big filly; sometimes it takes a couple jumps to keep her momentum. She is the best. She was faster than me and so I sit quiet saving my horse till the last stretch. She (stays on) pretty well; she is really kind,” said Hernandez.
The stakes win was the second of the meet for Baffert and his 158th overall at Del Mar, far and away the leading number in that department. He previously won the Hirsch in 2020 with Fighting Mad.
“I was hoping to be on an easy lead. I knew the one (Elm Drive) is a really fast filly; you want to stay close to her. Sort of took our filly out of her game a little bit. He had to keep riding her the whole way but, at the end, she’s a big, long jumping filly and she just got going there at the end. We’re happy with the win; we got a Grade I.” Baffert remarked.
The tally was Hernandez’s second of the meet and 35th overall at Del Mar. This was his first triumph in the Hirsch.
Adare Manor, a stout 3-5 favorite, returned $3.20 for the victory.
With six wins in 12 career starts, the dark bay filly also has four second placings including winning three graded stakes and placing second in the Black-Eyed Susan and Santa Anita Oaks, both Grade 2. This was her first Grade 1 victory.
Racing will resume at Del Mar on Sunday with an 11-race card and a first post of 2 p.m.
