My Baby Baby

(November 8, 2008) – Helen Alexander and Helen Groves’ Acoma overtook pace-setting My Baby Baby in the final 50 yards to win the 18th running of the $201,950 Mrs. Revere (GII) for 3-year-old fillies by 1 ¼ lengths on Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs.

Acoma, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Empire Maker out of the Danzig mare Aurora, covered the 1 1/16 miles on the firm Matt Winn Turf Course in 1:43.52. The victory, the fifth in eight career starts, was worth $117,696 and increased Acoma’s career earnings to $390,260.

Trained by David Carroll, Acoma remained undefeated in two turf starts and scored her second stakes victory at Churchill Downs. Acoma won the Grade III Dogwood on the main track in May.

Ridden by Julien Leparoux, Acoma bided her time in midpack early on as My Baby Baby, ridden by Robby Albarado, led the field through fractions of :24.04, :47.69 and 1:12.68 while being pressured by Golden Doc A.

Entering the far turn, Leparoux swung Acoma to the outside and began picking off horses. At the head of the stretch Acoma was six wide but in the clear with a clear shot at My Baby Baby, who had opened a daylight advantage by midstretch.

Sent off as the second choice in the field of 11, Acoma returned mutuels of $7.20, $4.20 and $3.40. My Baby Baby returned $9.20 and $5.40 in finishing a length ahead of Scolara and Kent Desormeaux, who paid $6 to show.

Completing the field in order were Absolutely Cindy, favored My Princess Jess, Seemingly, Clear Pond, Raw Silk, Sky Mom, Golden Doc A and Dark Sky.

Live racing at Churchill Downs resumes Sunday with a 10-race program that begins at 12:40 p.m. ET. The featured ninth race at approximately 4:37 p.m. ET is the $100,000-added Commonwealth Turf (GIII) at 1 1/16 miles on turf. John A. Chandler’s Seaspeak, who crossed the wire first but was disqualified in the Bryan Station (GIII) at Keeneland in his last start, is the 5-2 morning line favorite in the field of 11 three-year-olds.

POST-RACE QUOTES – THE MRS. REVERE

JULIEN LEPAROUX, jockey on ACOMA (Winner)

“She actually kicked very nicely in the stretch. Last time, she was more of a grinder; she just kept going but she never really kicked. She really kicked on nicely in the stretch. She’s going to improve on the turf. She won last time, but she didn’t know . . .  she had a lot of questions to answer. Today she beat a good field and won very easy so I think she’s going to improve again and hopefully be better next year, too.”

DAVID CARROLL, trainer of ACOMA (Winner)

“It was just an awesome performance. This fall, she’s gone from strength to strength. From the [Grade III Valley View at Keeneland on Oct. 17], she gained weight and trained even better. I told Julien in the paddock to ride her with confidence and that he’d have more horse than he did at Keeneland, which he’d need today. We thought she was sitting on a big race. I was so happy for Helen and her mother; they are wonderful people to train for and it’s a privilege to train for people like that who let you do your thing. Good things happen.”

Q: As good as she is are you tempted to give her one more race like The Matriarch?

“She’s a filly that really does well where she’s stabled. When we got her back this summer, we may have rushed her in a couple of spots. Once we got her back to Kentucky and she was stabled at a place for a period of time, she got very comfortable. That’s when she told us it’s time to go. I don’t think she’s one you can just put her on a plane or one that ships. I’m hoping next year that maybe she’ll be more mature. But we think this is it for the year and we’ll look forward to next year.”

Q: Will you keep her on turf or synthetic surfaces next year or keep your options open for dirt as well?

“I think you have to have an open mind. It’s just a question as to how she’s doing herself. She’ll talk to you like they all do. When she’s ready to go whatever race is there she’ll go for. Obviously, we have a Grade II and a Grade III and the goal is a Grade I. That’s something we’ll have to work towards next year. The more races you can choose from the better. Julien said today that in all of her other races she’s had to grind the win out. Today she showed a kick. That tells me now that she’s coming into her own and getting stronger. Hopefully next year when she turns four, she’ll be more mature and show an even bigger kick. There’s were some really good fillies in this race today, some very accomplished fillies in this race today – and she handled them pretty easily.”

KEN McPEEK, trainer of MY BABY BABY (runner-up)

“She’s a lovely filly.  She does everything right.  We’re going to have some fun with her.  I see her getting a lot better next year, too.”

Q: She looked like she had given them the slip at the head of the stretch…

“Her best race came over this course earlier in the year.  She laid up close to the pace and I told Robby, ‘You’re in the one-hole and it looks like there’s only one other speed horse, so let her run.”

Q: Will she run again this year or will you put her up for the winter?

“There’s a chance a chance I might run her in a stake on the Polytrack at Turfway.”

ROBBY ALBARADO, jockey on MY BABY BABY (runner-up)

“She kicked-on nice.  Kenny said don’t discourage her and take advantage of the one-post, and we did.  We let her gallop along there in front in moderate fractions.  When I squeezed her she went on, but it was a nice filly that beat her.  I’ve been on her.  I know how good she is.”

KENT DESORMEAUX, jockey on SCOLARA (runner-up)

“She gave me a lovely ride.  She kicked it in, but the other ones were just too much.  They were too fast for her, that’s all.”

EIBAR COA, jockey on MY PRINCESS JESS (fifth as the favorite)

“From the word ‘go’ we were kind of concerned about the post position.  It took a lot out of her on the first turn, where she was five or six wide.  I tried to save some ground, but I had to use her a little bit too much.  I was in a good position, but again I knew that I used her a little bit in the beginning.  Anyway, I thought she could finish a little bit better today, but for some reason she didn’t give me the run that she always has.  She pulled up good and she’s okay, but she didn’t run her race today.”

(Nov. 5, 2008) – Trainer Barclay Tagg returns to the scene of his greatest triumph in racing on Saturday when he sends out Lael Stables’ My Princess Jess in the 18th running of the $175,000-added Mrs. Revere (GII) for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles over the Matt Winn Turf Course.

The Mrs. Revere, which attracted a field of 11, will go as the ninth race on Saturday’s 10-race card. First post time is 12:40 p.m. ET.

Tagg, who saddled Funny Cide to win the 2003 Kentucky Derby, won last year’s Mrs. Revere when Bit of Whimsy scored by a half-length over Ciao. Like Bit of Whimsy, My Princess Jess enters the Mrs. Revere off an appearance in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (GI) at Keeneland, a race that Bit of Whimsy won.

My Princess Jess rallied to finish third in the QE II after breaking from post position 11. She will exit from the outside No. 11 hole in the Mrs. Revere under Eibar Coa on Saturday and carry co-high weight of 121 pounds.

My Princess Jess has won four of eight starts this year with stakes victories coming in the Boiling Springs (GIII) at Monmouth Park and the Lake George (GII) at Saratoga.

One other runner from the QE II is in the Mrs. Revere field, Magdalena Racing’s My Baby Baby, who finished 11th in the Keeneland race. Trained by Ken McPeek, My Baby Baby will break from post position one under Robby Albarado, who won the 2005 Mrs. Revere aboard My Typhoon.

Another runner who figures to command attention Saturday is Helen Alexander and Helen Groves’ Acoma, who won her turf debut in the Valley View (GIII) at Keeneland on Oct. 17. Trained by David Carroll, Acoma has won four of seven career starts and claimed the Dogwood (GIII) on the main track at Churchill Downs this spring. Julien Leparoux has the mount and will break from post position three.

The field for the Mrs. Revere, from the hedge out, is as follows: My Baby Baby (Robby Albarado, 117 pounds), Clear Pond (E.T. Baird, 117), Acoma (Julien Leparoux, 117), Seemingly (Calvin Borel, 117), Scolara (Kent Desormeaux, 117), Absolutely Cindy (Larry Melancon, 117), Golden Doc A (Jesus Castanon, 117), Raw Silk (Shaun Bridgmohan, 121), Dark Sky (Jamie Theriot, 117), Sky Mom (Miguel Mena, 117) and My Princess Jess (Eibar Coa, 121).

PURE CLAN WORKS FIVE FURLONGS FOR REGRET – With part owner Lewis Lakin looking on, Pure Clan put in her final work for next weekend’s $200,000-added Regret (Grade III) by working five furlongs in 1:02.20 over “firm” turf Thursday morning under Julien Leparoux.

            The work was the second on the grass for Pure Clan, who ran third in the Kentucky Oaks (GI) on May 2 in her most recent start. She had worked the same distance in 1:03.20 on May 29 with the “dogs” up.

            “I thought she worked well; better than last week,” trainer Bob Holthus said of the move that was accomplish with the dogs up and the rail out 15 feet from the hedge.

            Pure Clan, who is owned in partnership by Lakin, IEAH Stable and Pegasus Holding Group Stables, won her first two career starts on the grass. Her next five starts have been on the dirt in graded stakes and that versatility gives Holthus dual options with the daughter of Pure Prize.

            “If we go back to the dirt, we will wait for the Coaching Club American Oaks (GI) at a mile and a quarter at Belmont on July 19,” Holthus said. “The second part of the Triple Tiara series is the Mother Goose (GI) on June 28 and that would be too close, so we will let (Kentucky Oaks winner) Proud Spell and some of the others battle it out there and wait for the last one.

            “Mr. Lakin has been contacted about the American Oaks Invitational (GI) at Hollywood Park on July 5, and if she runs well here, I think it is a foregone conclusion she will get an invitation. If we do that and stay on the grass, the race at Del Mar (the Grade I Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 16) would be the next target. We only want to run her three or four more times this year and want to try to win a Grade I with her.”     

FORGET ASCOT, MY BABY BABY ROMPS AT CHURCHILL – Another filly hoping to secure an invitation to the American Oaks is Magadalena Racing’s My Baby Baby.

            The Bernstein filly romped by 5 ¾ lengths over older foes in Wednesday’s ninth race for trainer Ken McPeek, who races the filly for his wife Sue.

            Never worse than third in seven career starts, My Baby Baby had run second in the May 2 Edgewood and had Ken McPeek thinking of a trip to England with the filly.

            “I was going to run her in the Ribblesdale at Royal Ascot on June 19,” McPeek said of the mile and a half, Group II test for three-year-old fillies. “But the logistics just got too complicated. We’d have to go to New York, quarantine at Belmont and then go

on to Stansted (in London). I had done it before a few years ago with Hard Buck, but we were in New Jersey then.”

            The filly is named for Jena McPeek, the couple’s seven-year-old daughter.

            “When she was little, we’d see a baby in a stroller or carrier and she’d say ‘baby, baby’,” McPeek said. “A few years ago, she said ‘I’m not a baby; I’m a big girl,’ but I said ‘you’ll always be my baby baby’ and I named the horse for her.”

            Jena was a happy celebrant in the winner’s circle Wednesday and her father said she would have made the Ascot trip had the filly gone overseas. A trip to Hollywood Park in July may have to do.

            “I hope to get invited,” McPeek said.

            McPeek also said that Racecar Rhapsody, fourth behind Big Brown in the Preakness on May 17, could resurface in the June 14 Northern Dancer (GIII) at Churchill Downs.

            McPeek will be busy that day regardless of Racecar Rhapsody’s participation. The trainer plans to run C J’s Leelee in the Regret and has three possibles for the Jefferson Cup (GII) in Hard Strike, Nistle’s Crunch and two-time stakes winner Old Man Buck. 

JOCKEY MICK RUIS RESURRECTING CAREER IN KENTUCKY – With his career in full flight two years ago, Mick Ruis had the opportunity to ride in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (GII) at Keeneland.

            “My girlfriend and I fell in love with the place, it was so pretty,” Ruis said. “I made a note of it to come back.”

            Fast forward two years and Ruis is back at age 21 and many years wiser after taking some time off away from the track.

            “I had a lot of success early, but I kind of burned bridges here and there,” said Ruis, a San Diego native who began riding at age 16. “You think they need you but they don’t. You need them. When I was sitting on the sidelines, people I was riding for were still winning. It was a reality check to see those guys winning without me.”

            Ruis, who was the leading rider at Turf Paradise in 2004 with 132 winners, caught the eye of Churchill Downs track announcer Luke Kruytbosch who also serves in the same role in Phoenix at Turf Paradise in the winter.

            “Luke kept telling me that I should come back here,” Ruis said. “He said ‘I watched you ride at Turf Paradise and I know you are just as good as those guys. If you want to uproot and come back east, I think it would be a great career move.’

            “I thought about it. I took about a four-month break and I was either going to quit riding or start a new business with my dad in construction. Then Luke called me and I decided I wanted to give it one more run.”

            The run has resulted in introducing his talents to a new crop of trainers on a totally different circuit than the one he was on at Turf Paradise and Emerald Downs in Washington.

            “I have been working hard every morning and have a good attitude,” Ruis said. “I love the trainers here. They seem like great people. You can just tell when you meet them. I like these guys.”

            Ruis, who plans to stay in Kentucky and go to Ellis Park after the Churchill Downs meet ends July 6, has had only four mounts locally since getting back in the saddle. He has no doubts that winners and success will come now that his batteries have been recharged by the time off.

            “Mentally (the break) made me more mature,” Ruis said. “I have been out there every day since I was 16 and straight out of a high school and had more success than most people starting out in Southern California. (The break) was the first time I had time to kind of find myself. I had the time off to kind of think of everything and hit rock bottom almost mentally.

            “I said I can either call it quits here and be a guy that had a great apprentice year and a great two years after and then fell apart, or I can come back strong in new scenery and make an impact.

            “I am not worried about the ability, because when I started I rode with the best with eight Hall of Famers in the (jocks) room. That was a tough room. If I stick it out, I know it is going to go good. I am working hard and keeping my mouth shut.”

BARN TALK – The victory by William Carl’s Screen Your Friend ($5.60) in Wednesday’s fifth race gave trainer Bernie Flint his 399th career win at Churchill Downs. Fourth on the all-time victory list for trainers at Churchill Downs, the 68-year-old native of New Orleans will have his first shot at victory No. 400 in Thursday afternoon’s ninth race with Cool Hero, owned by L T B Inc. and Miles Childers. Flint has two horses entered on Friday. … 2007 Eclipse Award winning rider Garrett Gomez has been confirmed to ride Hystericalady for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer in the $300,000-added Fleur de Lis Handicap (GII) on June 14. … Ashbrook Farm’s Wicked Style, winner of the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (GI) last fall at Keeneland for trainer Rusty Arnold, is scheduled to make his second start of 2008 in the $200,000-added Jefferson Cup (GII) on June 14. Wicked Style ran fifth against older horses in his 2008 debut on May 21 at Churchill Downs.

WORK TAB – In addition to Pure Clan, two other nominees to the Regret worked on the firm turf Thursday morning. Vegso Racing Stable and Seidler Racing Stable’s Creative Design covered a half-mile in :52.20 for trainer Tom Proctor. G. Watts Humphrey Jr.’s Magical Theater worked five furlongs in 1:03.20 for trainer Rusty Arnold. … Two nominees for the Early Times Mint Julep Handicap (GIII) turned in five furlong works: Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore Lady (1:01) for trainer Eddie Kenneally and Elisabeth Alexander’s Sousaphone (1:05.60) for trainer Michelle Nihei.