Hollywood Park: Marketing Mix aimed for another Breeders' Cup try

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Several weeks ago, jockey Gary Stevens worked Marketing Mix at Keeneland as the 5-year-old mare was being prepared for the start of 2013 campaign.

“She was super-strong,” Stevens recalled of the workout.

He had the same point of view after Marketing Mix won her first start of the year in Monday’s Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park, edging Tiz Flirtatious by a nose in the race over 1 1/8 miles on turf. The victory puts Marketing Mix at the fore of the female turf division this summer.

Second in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita last November, Marketing Mix will have the same goal this fall, trainer Tom Proctor said. The path she takes to get through the summer campaign has yet to be finalized.

In the hour after Marketing Mix’s win in the Gamely, Proctor said the $750,000 Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park on Aug. 17 is a summertime goal. Whether she starts in the $200,000 Modesty Handicap there on July 13 or remains in Southern California will be determined later, Proctor said.

“I want to stay here,” he said. “I think horses tend to do better here.”

For Proctor and owner Glen Hill Farm, the exciting thing about Marketing Mix’s win is that it came over a distance shorter than her ideal trip, which is arguably 1 1/4 miles on turf.

“She’s better going longer,” Proctor said. “A lot of horses don’t want to go that far. She has a habit of winning, so that’s nice.”