Stallion Heiress stays unbeaten by romping in Spanky Broussard Stakes
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
A sharp winner of her career debut in December, the 3-year-old filly Stallion Heiress looked like a rising star in her second career start, capturing the $50,000 Joseph E. “Spanky” Broussard Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds by 7 3/4 lengths.
Stallion Heiress debuted Dec. 8 with a front-running four-length turf-sprint maiden win at Fair Grounds, and on Saturday she combined the best characteristics of sprinters and route horses in victory. Stallion Heiress rocketed out of the gate under Mitchell Murrill and took a big lead onto the backstretch while setting solid splits of 23.99 seconds and 47.96 for her opening quarter-mile and half-mile.
She scooted around the turn never challenged, was well clear at the quarter pole, and, with Murrill glancing under his right shoulder a couple times and seeing only distant pursuers, Stallion Heiress was ridden out to the wire. She went six furlongs in 1:13.58, seven furlongs in 1:25.31, and got about one mile on firm turf (with the rail out at 16 feet) in 1:37.28.
“She relaxed so well for me,” Murrill said. “She did her thing. I was just a passenger.”
Stallion Heiress quickened noticeably when Murrill shook the reins at her just past the eighth pole. She went under the wire under no pressure but still full of run, and galloped out like a storm around the clubhouse turn and down the backstretch.
“She didn’t get pulled up til about the half-mile pole,” said Mike Stidham, who trains Stallion Heiress for Stallionaire Enterprises. “She’s stretchy; she’s got scope to her and all that. But today, she broke and was three in front the first jumps. To have that kind of speed and be able to carry it – that’s dangerous.”
Stallion Heiress ($4) is an Ontario-bred daughter of Exchange Rate and the Smart Strike mare Mendocino Bean. Hotshot Anna finished a distant second, while second choice Rum Go came under pressure before the quarter pole and was a one-paced third. Legallini took a bad step before the first turn and was pulled up, but walked off the track.
Summertime Sky and Clever Girl, who would have been among Stallion Heiress’s main rivals, were scratched.
Stidham said no plans had been formed for Stallion Heiress, but that the filly would stay with turf racing.