Evening Jewel outshines Distaff rivals; Tackleberry holds
in Classic
Ever since EVENING JEWEL (Northern Afleet) made her four-year-old bow
Evening Jewel silenced all doubters with an emphatic half-length
“I gave (jockey) Victor (Espinoza) two jobs to do, and he only got
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“I had a lot of questions today. We had problems with one of our horses
bleeding (The Usual Q. T.), and with her (Evening Jewel), I wasn’t sure she had
her head in it. In the training, I did mess with both of them last race, and it
was a factor. Personally, I wouldn’t want to cheapen her in any way and keep
running her if she’d had enough, but after this performance today, you got to
keep running.”
Espinoza positioned Evening Jewel in a ground-saving trip on the inside while
running near the rear of the field once the gates opened on the Distaff.
Warren’s Blossom (Extra), Briecat (Adcat) and Amazing (Greatness) all gunned it
in a bid to take command early. Once the dust had settled, Briecat emerged on
top but closely tracked by Amazing to her outside with Warren’s Blossom and
Antares World (Decarchy) well within striking distance just in behind.
Following fractions of :23 1/5, :47 2/5 and 1:11 2/5, Amazing went up to
challenge Briecat leaving the second turn. She took over through the mile split
of 1:35 4/5, but Evening Jewel had joined the race by then. Swooping three wide
down the lane, the versatile filly pulled clear to earn her first win since
taking the Del Mar Oaks (G1) on the turf last fall. She stopped the clock for 1
1/16 miles on the fast main track in 1:42 1/5.
“She’s got a tremendous turn of foot,” Espinoza praised the winner. “There
was plenty of speed in the race and she settled down nice and we saved ground
around the first turn. There were quite a few horses in front of me down the
backside, but I decided to just stay inside and try to get lucky. Midway around
the turn, the horses in front of me got tired and drifted off the rail and I was
able to cut the corner there at the quarter-pole. She finished great.”
Sent off 2-1 favorite, Evening Jewel paid $6.40, $4.20
Evening Jewel stretched out to a route of ground on the dirt here for
Cassidy shortened Evening Jewel up for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare
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Bred in California by Betty and Larry Mabee, Evening Jewel also
placed in the Las Virgenes S. (G1) and Santa Ysabel S. (G3) early in her
three-year-old season. The daughter of Jewel of the Night (Giant’s
Causeway) has more than earned back her purchase price of $8,000 as a
Keeneland September yearling. She has a trio of younger half-sisters,
the unraced sophomore Maggie McGowan (Salt Lake) as well as juvenile and
yearling Cindago fillies.
Jewel of the Night is herself a half-sibling to multiple stakes winners
Saucey Evening (More Than Ready), who ran third in the 2009 Las Virgenes, and
Petition the Lady (Petionville). Evening Jewel’s third dam is the winning
Excellent Lady (Smarten), who counts among her progeny multiple Grade 1 king
General Challenge (General Meeting), Grade 1 victress Notable Career (Avenue of
Flags) and Grade 2-placed stakes scorer Western Hemisphere (General Meeting).
Others of note in this line include Grade 1 queen Northern Sea (Northern
Dancer), multiple Grade 2 heroine Snow Dance (Forest Wildcat) and multiple Grade
1-placed Southern Halo (Halo), who is a successful sire.
In an interesting sidenote, Northern Afleet was responsible for half the
winners on the Sunshine Millions program. In addition to Evening Jewel, he is
also the sire of Sprint and Filly & Mare Sprint winners, Amazombie and
Aegean, respectively.
About one hour before the Distaff, TACKLEBERRY (Montbrook) turned back all
The Luis Olivares-owned and -trained Tackleberry was sent off the 27-1 third
“This is the biggest purse I’ve won (as a trainer),” his 63-year-old
Santiago sent his front-running mount out of the gate,
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All the while, Tackleberry kept motoring on the lead. Duke of Mischief ranged
up to challenge exiting the turn, but Tackleberry would have none of it and
kicked clear once again, crossing under the line in a final time of 1:48 2/5
over the fast dirt.
“The trainer told me to go to the lead no matter what,” Santiago said. “He said this horse
does his best when he’s on the lead. I was a little surprised there wasn’t
more pressure on me, but I guess the other riders saw my horse as a longshot and
left us alone.
“In the stretch, I was asking him and asking him
— I wasn’t looking back at anybody else.”
Dream Maestro (Concerto) saved ground on the inside and rallied from midpack
to nip 4-5 favorite First Dude by a nose for third while finishing
another 1 1/4 lengths behind runner-up Duke of Mischief at 57-1. Duke of
Mischief was sent off as the 7-1 third choice.
“We wanted to take him off the pace today, and I was able to do that,”
Desormeaux said of First Dude’s first start of the year. “He hasn’t been
performing up to what the team thinks he should, so we wanted to get him to the
outside and give him his best chance.”
Dry Martini (Slew Gin Fizz), Birdrun, Cigar Man (Drewman), Black Hills (Judge
T C) and King Ghidorah (Black Mambo) followed the top four under the line after
Honour the Deputy (Honour and Glory) was withdrawn.
Bred by Ocala Stud in Florida, Tackleberry more than doubled his earnings to
$487,225 with this score, which also improved his career line to 10-6-2-0. The
dark bay gelding was purchased privately by Olivares as a two-year-old, and
racked up four straight wins last season at Calder, taking an allowance and an
optional claiming test before making his stakes bow a 5 1/4-length victory in
the Jack Dudley Sprint H. He tried graded competition next out and posted a nose
score in the Fred W. Hooper H. (G3), then traveled outside the familiar confines
of Calder to contest the Hal’s Hope S. (G3) at Gulfstream Park in his
four-year-old bow. Tackleberry wound up fourth that day, but returned to his
winning ways here in style.
“He loves to run and wants the lead. Last time he stumbled and broke bad at the
start and didn’t get to run his race,” Olivares said. “He’s a fighter. He looks
like he’s dead at the top of the stretch and he fights back.”
Olivares added there was a possibility he could run back Tackleberry next
weekend at Gulfstream Park.
Out of the unraced Box of Joy (Concerto), Tackleberry is a half-brother to
stakes-placed Trippin Star (Trippi) and a trio of unnamed younger siblings — a
Forest Wildcat sophomore colt, a juvenile filly by Discreet Cat and a yearling
colt, also by Discreet Cat. Box of Joy is herself a half-sister to Grade 1 hero
Outofthebox (Montbrook), stakes winner Ruff and Ready (More Than Ready) and the
stakes-placed producer Unlimited Pleasure (Valid Appeal), the dam of Grade 3
scorers Jardin (Montbrook) and Beacon Shine (Montbrook). This is the extended
family of Grade 1 victors Mighty Appealing (Valid Appeal) and Songandaprayer
(Unbridled’s Song) as well as Tackleberry’s noted sire, Montbrook (Buckaroo).