Bipartisanship © Benoit Photo
The eastern shipper Bipartisanship brought her running shoes with her and put them to good use Saturday at Del Mar as she came rolling in the lane to capture the afternoon’s feature, the $83,700 Kathryn Crosby Stakes on the turf course. She ran the mile distance in 1:37.27.
The winner, a 4-year-old British-bred daughter of the Dansili sire Bated Breath, races in the silks of Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum and is trained by top eastern conditioner H. Graham Motion, who has dabbled and then some at Del Mar before. This was his eighth local stakes tally.
Finishing a length behind Bipartisanship in the filly/mare test was Hronis Racing or West Point Thoroughbreds’ Gold for Kitten, who was a neck better than Marsha Naify’s Royal Address.
Bipartisanship was handled by Juan Hernandez, who also was the winner of the Let It Ride overnight stakes on Del Mar’s opening day card yesterday and is currently the meet’s leading rider. He was Del Mar’s top rider both this past summer and last fall.
The overnight stakes paid $49,320 to the winning connection and pushed their filly’s bankroll up to $175,093. It was her third win in eight U.S. starts after failing to click in four outings in Ireland.
Bipartisanship returned $8.40, $4.80 and $3.60. Gold for Kitten paid $10.20 and $7.00, while Royal Address returned $7.80 to show.
Racing at Del Mar continues on Sunday with a nine-race program starting at 12:30 p.m.
JUAN HERNANDEZ (Bipartisanship, winner) – “Alice (assistant trainer Alice Clapham) told me that she is a real straightforward filly; that you could pretty much do whatever you wanted with her, that she’d put herself in the race. She pretty much did; she found a good spot and I just stayed there. Coming for home I saw some room on the rail and began to go there. But they closed that up pretty quick, so I went outside. Then she got it done.”
ALICE CLAPHAM (Bipartisanship, winner) – “She had a break and we ran her back at Keeneland. She ran fourth there and had a really tough trip that day. So, we knew she was ready for a nice run. She saved all the ground and waited and when she got the gap…she’s got that nice little kick.”
FRACTIONS: :23.46 :48.16 1:14.47 1:25.97 1:37.27
The stakes win was the second of the meet for rider Hernandez, but first in the Kathryn Crosby. He now has 29 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the first of the meet for trainer Motion and his first in the Kathryn Crosby. He now has eight stakes wins at Del Mar.
The winning owner is Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoun of Lexington, KY, who races under the nom du course of Fortune Racing.