There’s a pattern. Four times in her career, My Racehorse and Peter Leidel’s Seismic Beauty (f, 4, Uncle Mo–Knarsdale, by Medaglia d’Oro) has gone straight to the lead and each time she’s won big, but never bigger than she did Saturday in the $400,000 GI Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar. It was the first Grade I victory of her career following her first graded score in the GII Santa Margarita Stakes May 25 at Santa Anita. Saturday’s win nets her a ‘Win and You’re In,’ fees-paid berth to the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff later this fall over this surface.
One of three Baffert runners–half the field–in the Hirsch, Seismic Beauty debuted 364 days ago over this very surface, finishing second in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight. She broke her maiden just under four weeks later in her first wire-to-wire attempt and daylight score. Freshened for five months, she returned in February at Santa Anita with two consecutive starts where she didn’t make the lead nor the winner’s circle. Sent to the front Apr. 18 in her first try at a mile, she wired the field by 10 lengths, then returned in the Santa Margarita for another daylight win and a 104 Beyer Speed Figure. Now riding a three-race win streak, she’s sharp as a tack, having worked lights out recently, including a :59 bullet (1/66) going five furlongs July 18 at Del Mar.