(From Churchill Downs)
LOUISVILLE, Ky.
(Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012) – James Miller's Grade I winning-filly
Daisy Devine added Saturday's 39th running
of the Grade III, $111,500 Cardinal Handicap to her résumé with a determined
front-running head victory over Julie's Love-GB at Churchill
Downs.
Trained by
Andrew McKeever and ridden by Calvin Borel, Daisy Devine broke
quick from the gate and dictated the pace through hand-timed fractions of
:23.69, :47.32, 1:11.82 and 1:35.42. She opened a six-length lead down the
backstretch along the hedge and dug in to meet the bid of Julie's Love while
leaving the final turn. The two matched strides down the stretch of the Matt
Winn Turf Course but a stubborn Daisy Devine was resolute.
Churchill Downs' teletimer malfunctioned during the race,
but Daisy Devine was hand-timed for the 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:47.29,
which would eclipse Bail Out Becky's 1996 stakes record of
1:47.81.
The 4-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Kafwain, who was
the 122-pound starting high weight, paid $6.20, $3.60 and $3.40 as the 2-1
second choice. Julie's Love-GB, a 6-1 shot ridden by Joe Rocco Jr. while
toting 117 pounds, returned $6.60 and $4.60. Last Full Measure, at 22-1
and 115 pounds with Jon Court aboard, was another 3 ¼ lengths back in
third and paid $6.60. Fugitive Angel, 9-5 favorite Bizzy Caroline,
Revelstroke, Indian Pond, Affair Dabbler and La
Cloche completed the order of finish.
The
Cardinal, named for Kentucky's state bird, was the fourth graded-stakes win of
Daisy Devine's career. She won the Grade I Jenny Wiley at Keeneland in April
after collecting 2011 victories in the Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks and Grade III
Valley View.
She entered the Cardinal off a runner-up effort in the
First Lady (GI) at Keeneland on Oct. 6, which was her first race since a
fifth-place finish in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (GII) on the Kentucky
Derby Day undercard.
Saturday's
triumph was worth $66,365, which boosted Daisy Devine's earnings to $901,281.
Overall, she has won 8 of 15 starts with two seconds and one third. One of her
unplaced finishes came in the 2011 Kentucky Oaks (GI) when she finished seventh
of 13.
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