Owner Bo Hirsch has Ce Ce in Clement Hirsch, named for his father
The Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares on Sunday has a projected field of six – the stakes winners Ce Ce, Dogtag, Fighting Mad, Hard Not to Love, and Ollie’s Candy, and the stakes-placed Hang a Star.
The $250,000 Hirsch is run at 1 1/16 miles and is the leading race of the summer meeting for older fillies and mares. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.
The Hirsch is the Del Mar debut for Ce Ce, who won Grade 1 races earlier this year at Santa Anita and Oaklawn Park before finishing third to Fighting Mad in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes on May 31 at Santa Anita as the 3-5 favorite.
Ce Ce is owned by Bo Hirsch, whose late father was Clement Hirsch, an influential owner and breeder in California.
Clement Hirsch was part of a group of owners and breeders who founded the Oak Tree Racing Association, which ran an autumn meeting at Santa Anita from 1969 to 2009, and a founder of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, the entity that operates the current race meetings.