Shamrock Rose rallied to nail Chalon on the wire in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1). Last after a half-mile, the Conrad Farms’ colorbearer passed 13 rivals to score by a head at Churchill Downs. Irad Ortiz Jr. picked up the mount for Mark Casse.
A three-year-old daughter of First Dude, Shamrock Rose has now won four straight stakes. She captured a pair of lesser events at Presque Isle Downs and Woodbine, the Malvern Rose and La Lorgnette, before stepping up to post an 18-1 upset in the October 20 Raven Run (G2) at Keeneland.
The bay filly came back from a 14-day layoff Saturday and was overlooked at 25-1, returning a lucrative $53.80 mutuel ($2) to her supporters.
“I told Irad I don’t know if she’s good enough, but she’ll give you everything she has,” Casse said. “And, she’s good. It goes back to (the late Hall of Fame trainer) Allen Jerkens who always said, ‘run them when they’re good’ so we came back in two weeks.”
“She settled nice for me,” Ortiz added. “When I dropped in and got through horses, she came running.”
Chalon left the starting gate at 14-1 and stalked the pace before surging to a clear lead in upper stretch, and it was a tough beat for her supporters. It was a neck back to the late-running Anonymity in third at 31-1, and 4-5 Marley’s Freedom finished another head back in fourth.
Bred in Pennsylvania by Best A Luck Farm, Shamrock Rose was purchased for $120,000 at the OBS April two-year-old sale last year. She’s out of the unraced Elusive Quality mare Slew’s Quality and counts stakes-placed Bet on Mile as a half-brother.
Shamrock Rose has now earned $917,687 from a 10-5-2-1 record.
