Wet My Beak prevails in a thrilling edition of the Senator Ken Maddy (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Mike Willman/Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.— In her third start for locally-based trainer Vladimir Cerin, longshot Wet My Beak rallied from far back in her first try down Santa Anita’s unique hillside turf course to take Friday’s $150,000 Senator Ken Maddy Stakes by a head while getting about 6 ½ furlongs in 1:12.37.
Named for the late California State Senator, The Senator Ken Maddy is part of the lucrative CTBA-sponsored Golden State Series for eligible California-bred or sired horses.
Breaking from post position eight, eastern-based Jose Ortiz, aboard for the first time, took hold of Wet My Beak and had two horses beat a half mile out and loomed menacingly while full of run about eight lengths off dueling leaders Elm Drive and Brandons’mylawyer.
As the field approached the dirt crossing, at which point Oritz, who won the 2016 Senator Maddy Stakes with Shug McGaughey’s Fair Point, tipped out widest of all and under vigorous handling, Wet My Beak flew to catch Elm Drive on the money.
Most recently a close third going six furlongs on turf in a second condition allowance at Santa Anita Oct. 6, Wet My Beak was off at 23-1 in a field of 11 fillies and mares and paid $49.60, $16.00 and $8.40.
Bred and originally based in Maryland, Wet My Beak, who is owned by Thelma and Louise Stable, LLC, is a 4-year-old daughter of Union Rags out of the Speightstown mare Who’s in Town. With the Maddy counting as her first stakes win, she now has three wins and a third-place finish from six starts.
With today’s winner’s share of $90,000, she increased her earnings to $176,988.
The 2-1 favorite under Flavien Prat, Elm Drive, forwardly placed throughout, was second-best and paid $4.20 and $3.40 while finishing 2 ½ lengths in front of Brandon’smylawyer.
Off at 10-1 with Joel Rosario, “Brandon” paid $7.20 to show and finished a nose better than Rose Maddox.
Fractions on the race were 22.18, 44.50 and 1:06.48.
$150,000 SENATOR KEN MADDY
JOCKEY QUOTES
JOSE ORTIZ, WET MY BEAK, WINNER: “He broke good. The pace was plenty fast going down the hill. I didn’t expect there were going to be four or five horses going for the lead, but when I saw that I knew that they were going very fast. I handicapped the race and only saw two speeds, so when I saw five of them I knew they were going fast. That allowed me to bide my time. I felt like I had a lot of horse underneath me every step of the way.
“Last time she ran into a little bit of trouble in the stretch. This time Vladimir told me to just stay out of trouble. That was the only instruction he game me. I was confident going into the race. I just kept her out of trouble like he told me, and it worked out.”
TRAINER QUOTES
VLADIMIR CERIN, WET MY BEAK, WINNER: “I’m not surprised. It just took a while. After we purchased this horse a year ago privately, she had some little issues to overcome. We were patient. She’s a true race horse. Jose rode her perfectly. I asked Jose if he watched her two previous races and he said he had. I just told him to stay out of trouble and the filly will do the rest.”
OWNER QUOTES
JAMEY OUGH, OWNER WITH THELMA & LOUISE STABLE LLC: My wife (Shari Ough) and I have Jerry Brown of Thoro-Graph to thank. He recommended this horse and helped with the negotiations. Vlad (Cerin) gave her time with the little issues she had, and we thought she would love the turf.”
NOTES: The winning owners are Thelma & Louise Stable LLC.
