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Clearly Best, Supreme Again in Steward's Cup Ladies Route
Original article written by Marzy Dotes posted 14 years 3 weeks agoClearly Best once again proved that she’s just that by capturing the $1 million Grade I Steward’s Cup Ladies Route for the second year in a row by three lengths over Bomb Shell. The exquisite dark bay five year old mare romped the 1 ½ mile distance in a tidy 2:27 flat.
The former North American champion older mare was purchased for just over an impressive $12.5 million as a yearling by owner Susan Raisher. She’s by stellar race horse and sire Fighter Jet and out of former Broodmare of the Year Cadeauje who during her career has produced seven millionaires including Radee, Kiddo and Something Better. Clearly Best went into the Steward’s Cup with a record of 11 wins in 18 starts and compiled an impressive record since breaking her maiden in her second start as a two year old. She ran lightly as a two year old but came back at three to win both the Sunshine Oaks and the Long Island Acorn before placing third in her first attempt in the Ladies Route behind Sentai and Gangster.
At four, she put in a busy schedule and captured such stakes as the Badlands Special, the Rags to Riches Stakes and of course, the Cadeauje Stakes named after her dam. She then went on to capture her first victory in the Ladies Route by a shattering nine lengths over the field.
After winning her first stakes race at five, she faced male horses in the Inglewood Gold Cup and after falling on her knees at the start, she rallied to finish a scant neck in second behind the winner, War Daddy. She repeated in the Cadeauje Stakes and scored a second place behind Father’s Day in the Long Island Gold Cup defeating Marmaduke. That seemed to put her in the perfect position to repeat as winner of this keynote marathon event.
Clearly Best likes to run to the front of the pack from the gun and the majority of her wins were accomplished with her setting a brisk pace with whoever cared to join her before taking final command in the stretch. And when the gates opened for the Ladies Route, she took the lead immediately and established a 1 ¼ length advantage over Bomb Shell with Guardian Angel sitting in third. Under a careful ride by jockey Gail Sparks, Clearly Best held her advantage over the other two front runners and the rest of the field. By the time the field turned for home, she held a two length lead over the ever persistent Bomb Shell who tried to reach her but Clearly Best proved to have too much left and won the race. Bomb Shell held off a hard charging Altar by a ¼ length.
With that repeat win, Clearly Best called it a career not long after she received her accolades and trophy in the winner’s circle in front of many of her fans. She retired and began her career as a broodmare, with her first offspring being a dark bay daughter of the sport’s last American Triple Crown winner Awake As I Am. Runner up Bomb Shell also hung up her tack and went to the shed as well, in her case producing a chestnut daughter of former North American Champion Three Year Old Colt Flames who retired after his fourth place finish in the Steward’s Cup Classic to begin a new chapter of his life as well. Altar, well she's putting aside motherhood to concentrate on her racing in the upcoming year.