Neither the unlucky connotations associated with the barrier draw, nor those involved with her name, could prevent Thirteenth Date<\/B> from recording an impressive victory in this weeks Grade 1 Queen Ascot Stakes. <\/I>Storming to victory from back in the pack, Thirteenth Date<\/B> brought up her second Grade 1 for the year, following her win in The Sexy Muffins – G1<\/I> earlier in the year, and her third career victory at the top level of racing. <\/P>
The middle gates provided the early speed, with Spicegirl<\/B> getting the best start from the nine stall, but being kept wide by Bingo\u2019s Ransom<\/B> from 7, who was in turn denied the rail by Krazy Momma<\/B> coming across from 6. Coolrunner,<\/B> inside, and The Aus Boss<\/B>, took up prominent positions behind the leading trio, while Alberta Gold<\/B> and Triple Crown Hopes<\/B> made up the second distinct grouping. The remainder of the field adopted \u2018sit and wait\u2019 tactics with Goodbye Kiss<\/B> ahead of Deputy Hunter<\/B>, then Back in Your Arms, Thirteenth Date<\/B> and Devils Slide<\/B> racing tightly bunched. Smackdown<\/B> and Pop Culture<\/B> brought up the rear. <\/P> Alberta Gold<\/B> was first to make a move, and the Aus Boss<\/B> went with her. Krazy Momma<\/B> was first beaten, as they collared her quickly. Coolrunner<\/B> was trying hard, while Deputy Hunter<\/B> made good ground along the rail. Bingo\u2019s Ransom<\/B> had called it a day and Spicegirl<\/B> was under pressure, as Thirteenth Date<\/B> was flying down the outside, accompanied by Devil\u2019s Slide<\/B>, also taking giant strides down the centre of the track, and Back in your Arms<\/B> plugging on. The Aus Boss<\/B> hit the front half way down the straight, but the lead was only on loan, as Thirteenth Date<\/B> and Devil\u2019s Slide<\/B> ran over the top of her. At the wire and it was Thirteenth Date<\/B> to salute the judge. Devil\u2019s Slide<\/B> had made her work all the way home, picking up half a length in the last two furlongs, but unable to make up the other half length required. The Aus Boss<\/B> had perhaps hit the front a tad early, but ran a strong race for third, with Deputy Hunter<\/B> fourth, less than two lengths from the winner. Back in your Arms<\/B> picked up the minor cheque, working home gallantly in her attempt for back to back wins<\/P> Smackdown<\/B> passed a few running home<\/P> Spicegirl<\/B> finished best of the early speed<\/P> Goodbye Kiss<\/B> raced midfield throughout<\/P> Coolrunner<\/B> looked a threat in running before throwing in the towel. A promising effort from the rank outsider.<\/P> Pop Culture<\/B> was always rearwards<\/P> Bingo\u2019s Ransom<\/B> and Krazy Momma<\/B> used up too much fuel early<\/P> Triple Crown Hopes<\/B> was outclassed<\/P> Thirteenth Date<\/B> is a superbly bred four year old daughter of Gone West<\/I>, from the Grade 3 winning mare Dynacat Form ( Northern Dancer \/ Buckpasser)<\/I>. This was her ninth win from twenty three starts and elevates her earnings to above $1.8 million. She ran the 8 furlongs in 1.34.0 and returned a speed rating of 112. She retains her ranking within her class, second only to Cold Storage.<\/B><\/P> Congie5<\/B> boasts the impressive strike rate of 77 wins from 387 races. Thirteenth Date<\/B> is the leading light in the stable, while Carolina Dreaming<\/B> is a Graded placed stakeswinner and Golden Granny<\/B>, a lightly raced three year old filly, looks the stables up and comer.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Queen Ascot Provides Third Grade 1 for Thirteenth Date<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":261,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}