Upper Case wins the Dream Supreme (Coady Media)
Churchill Downs Press Release
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – OXO Equine LLC’s 4-year-old filly Upper Case ran down tiring pacesetter Accomplished Girl down the stretch and out-kicked Mystic Pleasure inside the final furlong to collect her first stakes victory with a 1 ¼-length triumph in Saturday’s 19th running of the $295,000 Dream Supreme (Listed) at Churchill Downs.
Ridden by Evin Roman for trainer Paulo Lobo, Upper Case ran six furlongs over a fast track in 1:09.88. For Roman, the winner of a 2017 Eclipse Award for Champion Apprentice Jockey, it was his first win in 20 mounts at Churchill Downs after shifting his tack from Northern California where he was the leading rider at Golden Gate Fields to the Kentuckiana area earlier this year.
The complexity of the sprint for fillies and mares was altered at the start when expected pacesetter and even-money favorite Spirit Wind left the stalls slowly and spotted the field about 1 ½ lengths. Accomplished Girl found herself on the lead down the backstretch with Mystic Pleasure and Spirit chasing as Upper Case tracked from fourth down on the rail a couple of lengths behind. After fractions of :21.71 and :44.66, the field hit the top of the stretch and Upper Case tipped out three-wide to display her closing late kick. She grabbed the lead between horses with an eighth of a mile to run and easily turned back a run by Mystic Pleasure.
“I’m so grateful for this team of (owner) Larry Best and Paulo for giving me these opportunities,” said Roman, who honed his craft at the famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school in his native of Puerto Rico. “I sat a beautiful trip today and this filly keeps getting better each start.”
The win was worth $183,450 and improved Upper Case’s career earnings to $393,964 with a record of 4-6-0 in 14 starts.
#2 UPPER CASE ($11.24) rallies down the center of the track to win the $300,000 Dream Supreme Stakes at @ChurchillDowns. The daughter of American Pharoah was ridden by Evin Roman and is trained by @P_H_Lobo.
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) November 9, 2024
Watch more on @FanDuelTV. pic.twitter.com/Mwu4DgzRn9
Prior to the Dream Supreme, Upper Case finished a half-length back of Mystic Pleasure in an Oct. 13 allowance race over 6 ½ furlongs at Keeneland.
“She’s like a fine wine and getting better with age,” Lobo said. “We were glad to get this stakes win with her today. She has run well at Turfway in the past and it could be a possibility getting her back there this winter. We had talked about possibly retiring her but we will talk to Mr. Best and make a decision about what to do next.”
Upper Case, the 9-2 third betting choice, returned $11.24, $5.06 and $2.54. Mystic Pleasure, the 2-1 second choice under Florent Geroux, paid $3.66 and $2.20. Spirit Wind, with Mike Smith up, was another three-quarters of a length back in third and paid $2.10 to show. Accomplished Girl, Awesome Treat and Into Love completed the order of finish. Girls Weekend, Lure’em In and Miss Arlington were scratched.
Upper Case is a daughter of American Pharoah out of the Smart Strike mare Rigged Smart and was bred in Kentucky by Thor-bred Stables LLC.
The Dream Supreme is named after the six-time graded stakes winner who won the Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs in 2001. Trained by Bill Mott, Dream Supreme won two Grade I sprints in her 16-race career and earned $1,007,680 between 1999-2001.
