Nichole H scores in Distaff
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Gem Inc.'s NICOLE H (Mr. Greeley) pulled away late in Saturday's $147,000 H. (G2) at Aqueduct, posting a 2 1/2-length decision on the wire with jockey Channing Hill aboard. The Mike Hushion trainee was making her graded bow in the seven-furlong affair, and returned $3.90, $2.70 and $2.10 for stopping the clock in 1:23 1/5 on the fast main track. "I thought the pace was OK," Hushion said. "She just dragged him up there at the three-eighths pole. I felt awfully good at that point. Everyone else was driving, and she was just dragging him up. "She was fresher than she usually is in the paddock, but when the gates opened, that first quarter-mile, thankfully, she got to settle the way you would have hoped the first time going seven-eighths against these. We'll see how she comes back and discuss it with the owners." Wild News (Forest Wildcat) was eager for the race to begin, breaking through the gate prior to the start, and quickly took command once the official start occurred. She led the field through splits of :23 4/5 and :46 4/5 while Nicole H was patiently biding her time tracking the pace three wide. Spacy Tracy (Awesome Again) was battling for the lead with Wild News, but once Hill allowed Nicole H to run the race was over. The dark bay lass grabbed the advantage in upper stretch and drew off as the 4-5 favorite.
Wild News lost the war against the winner, but did win the battle for second. It was two lengths back to Kid Kate (Lemon Drop Kid), with Spacy Tracy fading to fourth and Qualia (Saarland) rounding out the field.
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Nicole H entered the Distaff off a pair of six-furlong victories in the
Garland of Roses S. and Interborough S. on Aqueduct's inner dirt. She was a
dominant 10 3/4-length allowance heroine at Belmont last season, and improved
her career line to 15-5-5-2 while banking $279,344 with this score.
Bred in Kentucky by JMJ Racing Stables, the four-year-old lass sold for
$115,000 as a Keeneland September yearling in 2008. She is out of the winning
Hot Chipotle (Victory Gallop) and has younger half-siblings in Tap Attack
(Tapit), second by a neck in the last Sunday's Packett's Landing S.; the unraced
juvenile colt Feature Winner (Officer); and an unnamed yearling colt by Master
Command.
Hot Chipotle is a half-sister to Grade 1 runner-up Miss Norman (Artax) and
dual stakes-placed Our Mariah (Mt. Livermore), who is herself the dam of last
year's Swynford S. second Something Extra (Indian Charlie).
Nicole H's fourth dam is multiple stakes queen Big Dreams (Great Above), who
is best known for producing back-to-back champion sprinter Housebuster (Mt.
Livermore), Grade 2 victress Quero Quero (Royal Academy), stakes hero Cat Buster
(Tale of the Cat) and the dam of Group 3 score Deep Sleep (Rahy). Others of note
in this female family are Grade 2 winners Harvard Avenue (You and I) and Be
Gentle (Tale of the Cat).
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