Vexed captures Golden Rod

Vexed (yellow hat) proved best in the Golden Rod (Wendy Wooley/EquiSport Photos)

Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider’s homebred Vexed scored a one-length
victory on Saturday in the Grade 2, $169,050
Golden
Rod at Churchill Downs with jockey Shaun Bridgmohan aboard.

Vexed bided her time behind tightly-held pacesetter Daddy’s Memory, who
established opening fractions of :24 and :47 4/5 while skimming, and once even
bouncing off of, the rail down the backstretch. Stonetastic was tracking just
off the leader’s flank and easily moved up past her rival while Vexed angled out
into the three path rounding the turn. Vexed followed Stonetastic into the lane
and those two battled in out in midstretch, with Vexed just pulling away late
while holding the closing Bird Maker by a length on the line.

“She’s a pretty
straight-forward filly,” Bridgmohan commented. “Obviously, she breaks sharp enough where you can be
tactical with her. She left there running. I put her in a good spot. Corey (Lanerie)
came in a little bit (with Stonetastic) which was fine, so I got her to the
outside and basically it was just a smooth trip from there on out. I was able to
dictate when I wanted to go. When I pushed the button, she responded very well.

“(Trainer) Al (Stall Jr.) and his team did a great job. She’s a little bit antsy
but I think, mentally, she’s maturing. I think that now she’s maturing mentally that it’s going
to take her a long way just because she’s learning to settle a little bit more,
handling herself and finishing well.”

Vexed gave co-owner Claiborne Farm a record-tying 32nd stakes victory when taking the Golden Rod (Jamie Newell/Horsephotos.com)

Bird Maker, who just broke her maiden under the Twin Spires on November 3,
did well in her stakes debut, getting up to take second by a length over
Stonetastic as the 3-1 favorite. Naive Enough, who was extremely fractious in
the gate, filled out the top four and was followed under the wire by
Streethomealabama, Playful Love, Runway Giant, Madly Truly, Daddy’s Memory and
Canaryinacoalmine.

“She ran
very good — how could you be upset with that?” praised Bird Maker’s trainer,
Ian Wilkes. “Her first time at two turns, her
first time in a stakes race and she was still getting to the winner at the wire.
The other filly (Vexed) has had a little more seasoning, so I think she’s got a
very bright future.”

“She ran
super,” stated Corey Lanerie, who piloted Stonetastic. “At the quarter-pole when I pushed the button I smiled too soon
— I thought I had the race won. She took off and gave me everything she had.
She just got outrun today. I had a perfect trip, stalking right on the outside.
It was a comfortable pace for her. I had no excuse.”

A well-beaten third in her career bow over the synthetic Polytrack at
Arlington, Vexed rebounded to break her maiden by 2 3/4 lengths in mid-September
when shipped to Churchill. She remained at the Louisville, Kentucky, track
following that initial win and just missed by three parts of a length in her
stakes debut, the Rags to Riches, last out on October 27.