Baffert's Mother Mother Invades For Front-Running Rags to Riches Win

Oct 28, 2018 Darren Rogers,Churchill Downs Communications

– Southern California invader and Del Mar Debutante (Grade I) runner-up Mother Mother led nearly every step of the way in Sunday’s sixth running of the $103,116 Rags to Riches Overnight Stakes to easily beat late-running Molto Bella by 1 ¾ lengths on opening day of Churchill Downs’ 21-day Fall Meet.

Ridden by Florent Geroux and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Mother Mother broke alertly from post No. 2 in the field of seven 2-year-old fillies and comfortably rattled off quarter-mile splits of :22.55, :45.16 and 1:09.82 over the “fast” track before stopping the teletimer in 1:36.72 for the one-mile race.

“When Bob sends horses to Kentucky, you can always feel confident putting them up into the race,” said Geroux, who won last year’s Rags to Riches aboard eventual Longines Kentucky Oaks winner Monomoy Girl – a top contender in Saturday’s $4 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (GI). “She ended up getting a little tired late but put her head down and tried hard to the end. She is very professional. She switched leads at the right time and tried hard.”

Mother Mother earned $61,503 for her ownership group of George Bolton, Barry Hall, Barry Lipman, Mark Mathiesen and Andrew Molasky. She paid $5.40, $4.20 and $3.60 as the 8-5 second betting choice. Molto Bella, who chased the winner while racing greenly in the stretch under Brian Hernandez Jr., returned $14.40 and $10.60 at odds of 26-1. High Regard, ridden by Corey Lanerie, was another 2 ½ lengths back in third and paid $6.40.

Princesa Carolina, 7-5 favorite Take Charge Angel and Into Mystic completed the order of finish. The latter two pressed the winner early on before fading back in the stretch. Chocolate Kisses hopped at the start and dropped jockey Julien Leparoux, who was uninjured in the incident. Love My Honey and My Wynter Rose were scratched.

Mother Mother, who improved her record to 3-2-1-0—$157,503, is a half-sister to 2014 Kentucky Derby runner-up Commanding Curve and was bred in Kentucky by T. F. VanMeter. She is by stallion Pioneerof the Nile out of the Lion Hearted mare Mother.

“She got a little bit of a temperature after her last race which threw the Breeders’ Cup plans out,” said Baffert’s chief assistant Jimmy Barnes. “Bob said, ‘Let’s go out there and see what happens.’ We added blinkers to get her a little bit more aggressive. She was a little laid back but they’ve shown they help.”

RAGS TO RICHES QUOTES

Florent Geroux, jockey of MOTHER MOTHER (winner): “When Bob sends horses to Kentucky, you can always feel confident putting them up into the race. She ended up getting a little tired late but put her head down and tried hard to the end. She is very professional. She switched leads at the right time and tried hard.”

Jimmy Barnes, assistant trainer of MOTHER MOTHER: “She got a little bit of a temperature after her last race which threw the Breeders’ Cup plans out. Bob said, ‘Let’s go out there and see what happens.’ We added blinkers to get her a little bit more aggressive. She was a little laid back but they’ve shown they help.”

Brian Hernandez Jr., jockey of MOLTO BELLA (runner-up): “She ran really well. I thought she had a great trip but just didn’t get to the winner.”

Corey Lanerie, jockey of High Regard (third): “When we swung out I thought we maybe could’ve gotten second.”

Julien Leparoux, jockey of Chocolate Kisses (last): ‘She just stumbled pretty bad out of the gate. I’m okay – just a bad scenario.”