Blowout opens big lead, fends off closers in Distaff Turf Mile
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After showing a propensity to wait on horses, having finished second while narrowly beaten in each of her last four starts, one couldn’t blame trainer Chad Brown if he got a little nervous watching the field close in on his pacesetting Blowout near midstretch of Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs. But this time there was no hang in Blowout, who stayed on resolutely to register a half-length victory over New York Girl in the grass fixture for older fillies and mares.
Blowout’s four consecutive second-place finishes covered an 11-month span and included a nose setback behind her nemesis Viadera in the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar in her most recent start on Nov. 29. Viadera also had beaten her a neck in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel two months earlier at Belmont Park.
With Flavien Prat aboard, Blowout, somewhat surprisingly, opened a commanding early lead while posting reasonable splits of 24.28 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 48.39 for a half. The field began to edge closer entering the stretch before moving within easing striking distance leaving the furlong grounds. But Blowout responded to strong handling by Prat to turn back all challengers, ultimately holding safe a belated final surge by New York Girl.
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New York Girl raced near the rear of the spread-out field during the early stages, swung wide into the stretch, and finished best of all down the center of the course. Zofelle loomed menacingly between horses in late stretch, but could not sustain her rally, finishing third, a head behind New York Girl and a nose in front of fourth-place finisher Abscond. Got Stormy weakened to finish a disappointing fifth, with She’s Got You trailing throughout.
Blowout is trained by Brown for owner Peter Brant. Sent postward the 9-5 favorite, she returned $5.80 after completing the distance in 1:36.30 over the firm course and getting a 95 Beyer Speed Figure in the process.
“She did what Blowout does, when she makes the lead she waits on horses,” Brown said. “She wants to be forward, she pulls, but she’s better with a target. And it’s hard to find two-turn races for her with a target because she’s so fast.”
Brown said he wasn’t surprised to see Blowout on the lead after Jakarta was scratched from the race, but admitted he never expected to see her so far in front in the run down the backstretch.
“I was surprised how far in front she was at one point, and I thought turning for home, as easy as the fractions were today, you’d think she’d be gone,” Brown said. “I felt it was all mental at that point. Wondering what she was going to do. Sure enough, they closed in on her because she will wait on horses, but Flavien [Prat] commented this time she felt them and heard them and that gave her an extra gear.”
Brown said the one-mile, Grade 1 Just a Game on June 5 at Belmont Park would likely be the next option for Blowout.
“We’re really determined to get a Grade 1 win for her,” Brown said. “She’s from a wonderful family and she came so close in the Matriarch.”
Bill Mott, who trains the runner-up, New York Girl, said both he and his rider, John Velazquez, were surprised and disappointed nobody kept the winner honest early on.
“Everybody took back, we were looking for something to go with that horse,” Mott said. “Our horse ran hard considering. There was some other speed in the race, and everybody was just sitting there. And I was disappointed they scratched the one [Jakarta], that horse had five-eighths mile speed. That would have helped us.”
