Marketing Mix Stomps Mrs Revere Foes

The Canadian-bred daughter of Medaglia d’Oro tracked pacesetter New Normal from second through most of the 1 1/16-mile race before jockey Julien Leparoux let loose his snug hold of the rein midway around the final turn. Marketing Mix took her rider’s cue, immediately grabbed the lead and kicked clear in the stretch for a convincing victory.

Marketing Mix stopped the teletimer in a swift 1:42.59 over “firm” going. The final time was second only to Mary’s Follies’ 2009 stakes record of 1:41.73 in 21 editions of the race – quite a feat when considering that Leparoux essentially eased the filly inside the final sixteenth of a mile.

"That was a really nice field and she won pretty easily,” said winning trainer Tom Proctor.

Sent postward as the 8-5 favorite, Marketing Mix paid $5.40, $3.20 and $2.60. Bizzy Caroline, ridden by Manny Cruz, rallied up the hedge to nose Hungry Island for second and paid $3.60 and $3.20. Hungry Island, with Corey Nakatani in the saddle, returned $3.20.

Smart Sting, Don’t Tell Sophia, Tourmaline, Groupie Doll, Holidaysatthefarm, New Normal (who led the field through early fractions of :24.04, :49.04 and 1:13.01), Sea Level Drive and Trac N Jam completed the order of finish. Louvakhova was scratched early Saturday morning.

“We got a good trip and went at an easy pace,” said Leparoux, who tops the Churchill Downs jockey standings with 20 wins through the first 10 days of the 21-day Fall Meet. “When we got a few lengths in front in the stretch, I (geared her down). She’s a nice filly and she won; she didn’t need to win by 10 (lengths).”

Marketing Mix collected her second graded stakes triumph this year. She won in similar fashion on Sept. 17 at Arlington Park to prevail in the Pucker Up (GIII). In her previous start on Oct. 15, the dark bay or brown filly was runner-up to the Aidan O’Brien-trained Together-IRE in the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (GI) at Keeneland.

Overall, Marketing Mix has won four of her nine starts. The $116,881 winner’s share of the purse boosted her career earnings to $538,826. Proctor plans to send the filly to his owner’s Glen Hill Farm in Ocala, Fla. for some R & R before she returns to action for a 4-year-old campaign.

Racing at Churchill Downs continues Sunday with a 10-race program that begins at 12:40 p.m. EST. The card features a three-day Pick 6 carryover of $8,702 on Races 5-10 plus a four-day Super Hi-5 carryover of $57,131 in the finale.

MRS. REVERE QUOTES

Tom Proctor, trainer of Marketing Mix (winner) – “That was a really nice field and she won pretty easily. She’s had a great year and has won over $500,000. She’ll head to the farm (Glen Hill in Ocala, Fla.) now and I’ll let her eat grass and have some fun for a few months.”

Julien Leparoux, jockey on Marketing Mix (winner) – “We got a good trip and went at an easy pace. When we got a few lengths in front in the stretch, I (geared her down). She’s a nice filly and she won; she didn’t need to win by 10 (lengths).”

Ken McPeek, trainer of Bizzy Caroline (runner-up) – “She ran really well. And that winner – I don’t think they even hit her.” (Note: Leparoux went to a left-handed stick twice aboard Marketing Mix).

Q: What do you do with Bizzy Caroline now – head to Florida? “I don’t know. We’ll see. In California she didn’t seem to go for the Bermuda grass, so I’m not sure we’ll run her in Florida. We might just wait for spring.  We like to win at Keeneland and Churchill.”

Manny Cruz, jockey on Bizzy Caroline (runner-up) – “She ran well. I saved more ground than anyone else in this race. I put her inside and stayed on the rail. She’s very honest; she gave to me what she had.”

Corey Nakatani, jockey on Hungry Island (third) – “My trip was really good. Going to the far turn she bobbled a little bit and took a bad step, and it cost her a little bit of her momentum. But once I got her going again, I got her to stay inside until we hit a seam and she actually ran a huge race off that pace. I had a feeling that’s what was going to happen, but she’s such a one-dimensional, one-style filly. I talked to (trainer) Shug (McGaughey) about it and he said, ‘Don’t worry about that. Just ride her, make one run and if we get there, we get there.'”