Recap: Final Exit Storms To 2012 Distaff Win

When the three year old filly Final Exit crossed the wire first on Breeders’ Bowl Day in 2012, it was trainer dixiedotco’s first ever win in the Distaff.

But it definitely wasn’t his first time at the rodeo called the Breeders’ Bowl.

Final Exit pulled off a pretty big shocker this past weekend, when she beat a field in a Distaff race that was supposed to be dominated by super mare Union Jack Flyer, the defending Distaff champion who came into this year’s race with three consecutive Grade 1 wins under her belt.

The win in the Distaff by the dixiedotco-trained daughter of Dynaformer was her ninth win in 15 career starts, and dixiedotco said the triumph ranked right up there with the 2009 Breeders’ Bowl Turf win by Title Defense.

“I would probably rank this win equal to the Breeders’ Bowl win by Title Defense in 2009,” said dixiedotco. “Both had incredible seasons, championship caliber seasons, and it was satisfying to see them deliver on Breeders’ Bowl day. Title Defense is also my favorite horse ever in the SIM, and, at this rate, Final Exit will soon be joining him as co-favorite.”

That’s a pretty strong statement for a trainer who has had no less than seven winners on Breeder’s Bowl Day. That’s right. Since Dixiedotco joined the SIM in 1999, seven of his entries on Breeders’ Bowl Day have crossed the wire first.

Final Exit joins a stellar list of Dixiedotco-trained Breeders’ Bowl winners, including Barely That Auggie (2002 Sprint), Kristeene S. (2003 Filly and Mare Turf), Ten Year Storm (2007 Juvenile Fillies), Mon Coup (2008 Filly and Mare Turf), Title Defense (2009 Turf), and Taylor’s Town (2012 Juvenile).

Final Exit watched early Saturday in the Distaff as Koo Koo Kachoo bounced from the 12 hole to grab the lead early and set some fairly fast early fractions, before opening up as much as a 2 ½ length lead on the rest of the field, before Final Exit made a strong bid in deep stretch to grab the lead for good.

Final Exit broke from the 1 post and got a nice ground-saving trip on the rail, laying back in sixth place, before she moved off the rail entering the far turn, swinging four-wide around the turn before making her winning bid in the drive for home.

She finally collared the speedy Koo Koo Kachoo between the 7 and 7.5 furlong markers, and once Final Exit got the lead running down the center of the course, really all that was left to be decided in the 2012 Distaff was second place.

Siren Serenade, a four year old daughter of Afleet who was coming off a huge score in the Grade 1 Bra Snap last time out, rallied from way back to get up for second, just 1 ¼ lengths behind Final Exit. Ligeia, who showed some nice early speed, ran a pretty even race, finishing third. Barely Lucky was fourth, and the mighty Union Jack Flyer ran on to be fifth.

“I knew the pace would be fairly quick,” said dixiedotco. “She’s probably best when able to lay a little closer to the pace, like she did in the Middle Jewel. But she’s talented enough to adapt to anything. I saw that she was getting a trip similar to the one she got in the Oaks. I felt that as long as she maintained her position, and was always moving forward rather than slipping back, she would be in a position to win down the stretch.”

Final Exit ran the 9 furlongs in the Distaff in a time of 1:47.77. The 1-3 exacta with Final Exit, who was 17/1, and Siren Serenade, who was 9/1, paid a pretty nice $449.90. The 1-3-9 trifecta with long shot Ligeia third paid $8,838,50.

Probably the biggest surprise on this day in the 2012 Distaff was the dethroning of 2011 Distaff champion Union Jack Flyer, who finished fifth. Union Jack Flyer, after last year’s Distaff win, came into the 2012 Distaff as a heavy favorite to defend her title in the Breeders‘ Bowl race. After all, she had only lost once this season, and that loss came to Moldavia, another dixiedotco-trained female, in the Grade 3 Route Sixty Six.

“Union Jack Flyer is one of the top mares the sim has ever seen,” said dixiedotco. “Her Breeders’ Bowl win last year was breathtaking. It’s rare to see a horse win a race at that distance by that margin, over a field full of Grade 1 horses. But having said that, I knew she could be beaten. In fact, the only horse to beat her this year was another of my runners, Moldavia, who beat her pretty handily earlier in the year.”

It just wasn’t Union Jack Flyer’s day in the 2012 Distaff. The five year old daughter of A.P. Indy entered the Distaff with four consecutive graded wins, including Grade 1 wins in the Very Vane, the Go For The Gold, and the Great Dame.

“Obviously, Union Jack Flyer wasn’t on her best form that day (when Moldavia beat her in the Route Sixty Six),” said dixiedotco. “But it showed she wasn’t a machine. I still had confidence in Final Exit. She had done everything I’ve ever asked her to do her whole career. She’s only had three non-contending efforts in her life, and all three had excuses. One, she was injured. Two, distance was beyond her scope. And 3, she had a prep where winning was not the objective. That she was able to beat some incredibly talented three year old colts in a Triple Crown race meant that there was no reason to be scared of anyone. But still, when watching the race on Saturday, Union Jack Flyer was the one horse other than my own runners that I was keeping tabs on. When I saw that she had drifted double digits back mid-race, I felt like we had a legit chance to beat her to the punch and hold on.”

And hold on is exactly what Final Exit did. In fact, she was under wraps at the wire when her jockey knew the victory was in the bag. For Final Exit, it was her first win since June, when she scored big in the Grade 1 Sister Hen immediately after the defeated the boys in the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Grade 1 Middle Jewel Stakes.

Final Exit came into the 2012 Distaff off a second place finish in the Grade 1 Superfilly Handicap in New York, where she faced older fillies and mares for the first time in her career. After that, she finished well beaten in an allowance race that was simply a tune-up for the 2012 Distaff.

“Except for two year olds, I always prefer to have a race within five weeks of a big target like the Breeders’ Bowl or a Triple Crown race,” said dixiedotco. “The Superfilly was a good spot for her to face older horses for the first time, and she ran well. It showed me that she was over the taxing effort in the Equinics, where the distance was simply too far. Koo Koo Kachoo was in top form, running at her favorite distance in the Superfilly, while my filly was coming off a short break and running at a distance just a tad shorter than she prefers.”

That win by Koo Koo Kachoo in the Grade 1 Superfilly seven weeks before the Breeders’ Bowl was just a bit too far away from the target race, the 2012 Distaff, for dixiedotco. So he threw Final Exit in an allowance race four weeks before the Distaff, as a tune-up. And it worked.

“Seven weeks was too far out for my preference,” said dixiedotco. “I knew I needed to get a run in her before then, but didn’t want it to be one where she was forced to run her eyeballs out. It wasn’t a case where she needed to run well to to get into the Breeders’ Bowl. So looking at the options, I wanted to play it safe and run her 4 weeks out. She wasn’t anywhere near sharp that day (in that allowance race last time out), and the jock was under instructions to wrap up on her if she wasn’t doing it easily. That’s sort of how it ended up. She got a chance to stretch her legs for 6 furlongs or so. Then when she wasn’t coasting to the lead, he just let her finish on her own to the wire. The 10-length margin (of defeat suffered by Final Exit) was maybe a little disconcerting, but knowing the condition she was in, along with the rider instructions, the outcome wasn’t a surprise. This set her up to where I could train her the precise amount of time I wanted leading up to the big race.”

Going into the Distaff, dixiedotco said he had more than a few concerns, regarding other horses in the 2012 version of this race.

“There were a few who interested me when seeing the entries,” he said. “Love Action was an improving three year old who had come relatively close to my filly in the Sister Hen and had put back-to-back wins at the distance since then. Obviously Koo Koo Kachoo was one to watch, since she can get brave if left unchallenged for too long. Siren Serenade was also one I was familiar with, having lost to her with another filly in the CA prep to the BB. And of course, I had two other fillies in the race, Moldavia and Eighties Icon. I didn’t think the race shape helped Moldavia much, but I thought Eighties Icon would run a good one.”

Final Exit’s victory was even more impressive considering the campaign she had as a three year old. She prepped her way into the Bluegrass Oaks earlier this season, only to finish second in that race. Then she took on–and defeated–the boys in the second leg of the Triple Crown. And then, of course, it was a year in which she also ran in the Equinics, so Final Exit really hasn’t had a breather at all this year. It has been nothing short of a grueling campaign, with no easy races in Final Exit’s 2012 season as a three year old.

“Wanting to run in the Middle Jewel dictated that she be raced hard through those months.” said dixiedotco. “I did make a conscious effort after that to back off a little at times. That was made difficult because of the Equinics. Even though I knew 10 furlongs could be a big problem, there was never any thought to not representing the residency in there. Obviously I’m biased, but I think she’s accomplished more than any three year old filly has before. There have been three year old Breeders’ Bowl winners, and there have been filly Triple Crown race winners, but never both (from the same filly). She has six graded wins now, four of which were Grade 1‘s, to go with two Grade 1 placings. Not a bad season at all.”