Mother Mother comes running late in Kalookan Queen Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mother Mother ended a six-race losing streak in graded stakes dating to October 2018 with comprehensive win in Sunday’s $81,700 Kalookan Queen Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.

Mother Mother closed from fourth in a field of five to catch stretch leader Lady Ninja in the final furlong, winning by 1 1/4 lengths under an aggressive hand ride from jockey Joel Rosario.

“She was the best horse in the race,” Rosario said. “She was really running at the end.”

Mother Mother ($2.80) ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.20 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 95.

Lady Ninja (2-1) finished 4 1/4 lengths in front of 15-1 Show It N Moe It, who dueled for an early lead with Lady Ninja through an opening quarter-mile in 21.93 seconds and a half-mile in 44.96.

Flor de La Mar finished fourth, with Exuberance last.

Mother Mother was farther behind the pace in the first half of the race than Rosario expected, but closed well with a wide rally on the turn.

Trained by Bob Baffert for the partnership of Old Bones Racing Stable, Barry Hall, Barry Lipman and Mark Mathiesen, Mother Mother has won 3 of 10 starts and earned $363,061.

A 4-year-old filly by Pioneerof the Nile, Mother Mother won the Rags to Riches Stakes at Churchill Downs in 2018 and was third in the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos at the end of that year.

Mother Mother was winless in five starts in 2019, including second-place finishes in the Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita in January and the Grade 3 Beaumont Stakes at Keeneland in April.

The Kalookan Queen Stakes, a likely prep for the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at seven furlongs for fillies and mares on Feb. 15, was Mother Mother’s second start of the current Santa Anita winter-spring meeting. She was third in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs on Dec. 28.