Atomic Blonde turns the tables on Chop Chop in Keertana
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The 5-year-old mare Atomic Blonde had won races in Germany and Italy, and on Saturday at Churchill Downs she finally won one in North America, taking the $250,000 Keertana Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf.
Atomic Blonde was winless from seven starts during 2023, her first season with trainer Christoph Clement, after the German-bred horse was brought overseas. She ended her campaign with a distant eighth-place finish in the E.P. Taylor at Woodbine, and was eased in the Long Island Stakes, where she was reported to have suffered an episode of exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage.
Atomic Blonde returned to racing in April with a much better second behind Chop Chop in the Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland, and on Saturday she turned the tables on Chop Chop.
The Keertana, run around three bends, turned into one of those odd races with a leader, Sand and Sea, racing in a different time zone than the rest of the field. Sand and Sea, going far too fast during the early and middle stages, led by some 20 lengths around the second turn, but by the third, she was done. Vergara and Chop Chop were the first to pounce, taking the lead at about the three-eighths pole. Chop Chop, the 3-5 favorite, pushed past Vergara past the eighth pole then Atomic Blonde was on her.
Atomic Blonde had only fading Sand and Sea behind her at the five-sixteenths marker, but she cut the corner on the rail under Tyler Gaffalione and turned for the wire hitting her best stride. Gaffalione steered Atomic Blonde outside the two still ahead of her and the mare wore down Chop Chop to win by a half-length.
Chop Chop clearly was second, 4 1/2 lengths ahead of Vergara, with the other three runners miles farther back. Atomic Blonde clocked 2:31.01 over a firm course and paid $7.64 as the second choice.
Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Clement, and Winters Equine, Atomic Blonde is by The Grey Gatsby and out of Alwina, by Areion. Her two 2021 wins came at Dortmund in Germany, her lone score in 2022 at San Siro in Italy. And after getting blanked during 2023, Atomic Blonde got the money Saturday in Kentucky.
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