Hirsch Stakes (Grade 1) (BC)- $400.000 Purse
DMR- For Fillies and Mares Three Years Old and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
August 3, 2024
There are three races that are considered a “win and you’re in” stake for the BC Distaff, and we’ll have one of them on Saturday at DMR. It’s the 21st running of the Hirsch Stakes, sending fillies and mares a little more than a mile on the main track. The race first appeared on the schedule as a Grade 2 for a $300.000 purse and would be upgraded in 2009 to a Grade 1. The purse was constant for a long time, but saw it’s increase to $400.000 in 2022, a year that saw a dead heat for the win. Last year only had one winner, and that was Saratoga Stud’s Wavy Girl. She stayed hot after, too, winning the Cotillion and then running second in the BC Distaff itself. She will not be here to defend her title, but did very recently win the Grade 2 Shuvee at SAR, so it’s good to see that she is still running well. Eight have been entered this year. Let’s meet them now:
1- Con Me (Alydar Stables, ridden by E J Wilson)- It won’t be the graded debut for this one, since she attempted the Gazelle in April 2023, but it’s certainly been a while. She’s predominantly been running in optional claimers since then and has done very well hitting the board in them, so based on that, she’s earned the chance. But there’s a red flag: those races were on the grass. She has not been on the dirt since May 2023. That said Alydar has been preparing her for this for a while, and based on her mile works, she makes sense to get a shot. Maybe she’s been begging to go back to the main track for a while now.
2- Plenty Of Profit (Riggins Racing, ridden by P Lopez)- Began her three-year-old season this year with an allowance win at SA, and that moved her into stakes competition. She’s done everything but win a race since then, with a couple of photo finish seconds in the GP Oaks and Black Eyed Susan, and then finishing third while being within a length, in the Grade 3 Selene at WO last month. Figures to have a great shot in here as well, and just maybe this will be her day to get a stake win.
3- Decimas Queen (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by A Cedillo)- Punched her ticket to the KYO in the Grade 1 SA Oaks, winning that race in her fourth career start and first graded appearance. In that respect then, you can call her a female Blazing when it comes to getting a big win for the trainer. Two weeks ago, Blazing ended up winning the Haskell, so is Decimas Queen wants to continue following his lead, she knows what she needs to do here. The filly did run second in the KYO but came up flat in the Acorn. Tried the turf last time out and won, but it’s back to the dirt here.
4- Pink Attack (The Sidley Stud, ridden by M E Smith)- This will be the 42nd career start for Pink Attack, and the seven-year-old mare has been able to make the BC Distaff in each of the last two years. She cashed a fourth-place check in last year’s race but took a little while to get going this year. She seems to have turned the corner now and has run in the top four in each of her last five starts and was most recently fourth in the Grade 3 Trillium Stakes just two weeks ago. Been good on short rest when in this situation in the past.
5- Ifyerwokeyerajoke (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by R M Hernandez)- The winless streak has continued now, as she still has not won since the 2022 running of the Test. She had been competitive since then more often than not, so the trainer was not going to back down from running her against the best. However, in her last two, she has not been good, including a particularly poor performance in the Santa Maria at SA two starts ago. I’ve tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I am at the point now where I need to see a big race out of her again at this level. I seem to cover her, race by race, after all!
6- Storming Sunset (Rock Creek, ridden by D Davis)- Claimed from S Dot Farm in April for $8.000, and had been a runner in claimers for a little while before that. You could look back further and see some stake appearance, so the potential has been there and now we’ll see if she can pick it up to this level. I’m not ready to call her a success story just because she was entered here, as her two starts since the claim have been a $19.000 claimer that she won with a weight allowance but then was good in the $50.000 Monashee at HST, running second. But this isn’t the Monashee, this is the Grade 1 Hirsch and she’ll be at equal weight to a couple of key rivals, like Decimas Queen. Never know unless you try, though.
7- Texas Holdem (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by D Van Dyke)- It’s been eleven months since Texas Holdem visited the winner’s circle, but she has been able to be third five times over her last nine races. Her most recent time finishing in that spot was the Grade 2 Santa Margarita at SA in May. The other races that she has been in where she was not third have been mediocre at best. The good news is that she doesn’t really have two bad races in a row, and her last one was not one of her best.
8- To The Beach (Mb Stables, ridden by I Ortiz)- Had a lengthy career with Arindel, but was auctioned off by that one in June and picked up Mb Stables for $56.780. She’s made one start since then, a wire-to-wire win in an optional claimer at LAD. That was on the turf, as was every other start she’s made since October 2022, but a beauty of a work on the dirt at MTH in anticipation of this, it’s “to the dirt” for To The Beach. Makes sense, in a way. Has some graded experience, but they were not her best races.
Prediction: 3-2-4-7
— NS
Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES
