Ceiling Crusher jumps out in front, stays there in Cotillion Stakes

BENSALEM, PA - "This was our Breeders' Cup," exclaimed trainer Doug O'Neill after Ceiling Crusher took them gate to wire in Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies racing 1 1/16 miles at Parx Racing.

Making her initial start over a sloppy track and starting for the first time outside of Southern California, Ceiling Crusher showed her customary gate speed under jockey Edwin Maldonado.

Ceiling Crusher cleared to the lead going into the first turn and faced only token pressure from longshot Majestic Creed through fractions of 23.31 and 47.64 seconds.

Majestic Creed called it a day entering the second turn, and Ceiling Crusher braced for the challenge from stalking Hoosier Philly. Maldonado stepped on the gas pedal early, and Ceiling Crusher reasserted a clear lead after six furlongs in 1:12.98.

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Favored Pretty Mischievous angled to the outside in the final three-sixteenths, and steadily gained on Ceiling Crusher, but the wire came in time. At the finish, it was Ceiling Crusher (93 Beyer Speed Figure) by a half-length over Pretty Mischievous in 1:45.69. She returned $8.60 to win as the co-second choice in the betting.

Occult finished another 1 1/4 lengths back in third, and was followed home by Hoosier Philly, Defining Purpose, Foggy Night, Just Katherine, Majestic Creed and Imonra.

When asked why he kicked for home aboard Ceiling Crusher when he did, Maldonado said that he "doesn't like any horses getting close to her. By the time they came at her at the three-eighths pole, I went."

O'Neill marveled at the way Ceiling Crusher relaxes once in front. "Edwin talks about that all the time. She's got no accelerator stuck to her at all. She's not a run-off. We know she doesn't have a huge turn of foot. She just has a high cruising speed, a grinder with a lot of heart."

Bred in California by Harris Farms, Ceiling Crusher is a daughter of Mr. Big. A $22,000 yearling purchase, Ceiling Crusher won a maiden special weight for California-bred fillies in her sole start at 2.

She was bought privately by the partnership group of Wonderland Racing Stables, Todd Cady, Tim Kasparoff and Ty Leatherman before she won her 3-year-old debut in a first-level statebred allowance on Jan. 29.

Ceiling Crusher won her next two starts, both against statebred stakes competition, by a combined 32 1/2 lengths. She tasted defeat when third at odds-on in Del Mar's Fleet Treat on July 27, but returned to post a six-length victory in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines Stakes there on Sept. 2.

Ceiling Crusher isn't nominated to the Breeders' Cup. "That will be up to the guys and gals if they want to write a big check," O'Neill said.

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