Blame Debbie dominates Searching Stakes; Pixelate takes Prince George's
The axiom that pace makes the race rang true as Blame Debbie controlled glacial fractions on her way to a 3 1/2-length victory Sunday in the $100,000 Searching Stakes for fillies and mares traveling 1 1/2 miles at Pimlico.
Ridden by Victor Carrasco, the 4-year-old filly bounced to the lead in the Searching, contested around three turns over "good" turf, and set trotting-horse fractions of 27.63 and 55.29 seconds while facing little pressure. When no other rider turned up the heat, Feargal Lynch moved Crystalle to challenge on the backstretch. They got close to Blame Debbie, but were repelled turning for home.
Blame Debbie opened an insurmountable lead at the three-sixteenths pole and held favored Luck Money at bay despite swapping leads several times in the stretch. Blame Debbie completed the distance in 2:38.50.
Favored Luck Money moved belatedly for second. It was another two lengths back to Crystalle in third. They were followed under the line by Whatdoesasharksay, Breviary, and Proper Storm. Beautiful Lover and Scatrattleandroll scratched.
Blame Debbie paid $6.20 to win as the 2-1 second choice in the wagering.
Trainer Graham Motion was quick to praise his rider. "Once she broke sharp like that and Victor found himself on the lead, he did a perfect job of slowing it down the best he could," Motion said in a post-race interview broadcast at Pimlico. "She got away with some pretty good fractions."
Owned by Eclipse Thoroughbreds, Michael Cloonan, and Timothy Thornton, Blame Debbie was Grade 2-placed on dirt as a 2-year-old but has blossomed since stretching out around longer distances on grass. She finished first in three consecutive races last year, culminating in a Grade 3 score at Keeneland in the Dowager Stakes on Oct. 18. The Searching was Blame Debbie's first start as a 4-year-old.
"Now that she's won two pretty decent stakes going 1 1/2 miles, I think this is her preferred distance," Motion said. "I think she can go 1 1/8 miles, 1 1/4 miles, but I think she really is a marathoner, especially when she gets fractions like she did today."
*** Earlier this week, trainer Michael Stidham mentioned some of Pixelate’s peculiarities. “The one thing we know about Pixelate is you have to time his moves,” Stidham told Daily Racing Form Thursday morning. “You have to get there right at the wire. I think he made the lead too soon last time.”
Joe Bravo, aboard Pixelate for the first time in Saturday’s $100,000 Prince George’s Stakes, rode the 4-year-old colt with precision and his patience paid dividends at the end of the nine-furlong test for older horses over rain-softened turf.
Pixelate raced in midpack after breaking from the rail post as 50-1 shot Alwaysmining carved out fractions of 24.74 and 50.68 seconds. Pacepresser Logical Myth moved to the front on the second turn and grabbed a solid advantage, but Bravo had Pixelate in full flight on the outside. The 4-year-old son of City Zip rolled past Logical Myth in the final sixteenth to prevail by one length in 1:53.56 seconds over a good turf course that played more on the soft side.
It was another length back to Eons in third. They were followed home by Argonne, Midnight Tea Time, Talk Or Listen, English Bee, Mokheef, Alwaysmining, Doc Boy, and Glad Moon. Shane’s Jewel, entered for main track only, scratched.
“It’s tough riding a horse for the first time and riding a soft course as it is today,” Bravo said in a post-race interview broadcast by Pimlico. “He was really strong on the first turn and on the backside, he really started breathing underneath me and I knew we were comfortable. Turning for home, I just wanted to get to the outside.”
With Saturday’s win, Pixelate, a homebred owned by Godolphin, earned his fourth stakes victory. His signature triumph to date came in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby last summer. In his most recent start Pixelate was beaten a nose by Corelli in the $100,000 Henry Clark Stakes at Pimlico on April 24.
Pixelate is Godolphin’s third stakes winner this month after Althiqa took the Grade 1 Just a Game and Essential Quality snagged the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 5.