Warren's Showtime surged home to take the $101,000 Autumn Miss Stakes (G3T) Oct. 17 at Santa Anita Park, marking the 1,000th victory for her trainer, Craig Lewis.
Lewis entered Saturday with 999 wins and finished second with his two earlier entries, including Warren's Showtime's 2-year-old full brother, Warrens Candy Man. But in the Autumn Miss, a mile turf event for sophomore fillies, Warren's Showtime rallied from fifth and got up to score by a neck under jockey Flavien Prat.
"I've been very fortunate," Lewis said. "I've had a lot of great horses in my career: Cutlass Reality, who beat back-to-back (Kentucky) Derby (G1) winners Alysheba and Ferdinand in the Hollywood Gold Cup (G1); Music Merci, who won the Del Mar Futurity (G1), Illinois Derby (G2), and many other big races; and then of course Larry the Legend. I've had multiple other good horses and a lot of great owners. I'm very thankful and feel very fortunate, very grateful to be in this situation.
"Fillies like her (bring me back)," he added on Warren's Showtime. "There are a lot of bumps in the road. A trainer's life is not all pie and ice cream, but when things like this happen, it makes it all worthwhile. The early mornings, the things that go wrong, the difficult situations, but situations like this overcome all the negatives involved."
Warren's Showtime, third in the Del Mar Oaks (G1T) last out, was sent off as the 3-5 favorite in a field of seven. Longshot Quiet Secretary opened up by more than two lengths while setting fractions of :22.50 and :45.42 through the first half. Nasty followed in second and was four lengths ahead of Going to Vegas in third. The field then began to close on Quiet Secretary, who was down to a head advantage as three-quarters went in 1:09.69.
Warren's Showtime was still fifth and angled four wide by Prat for a clear run down the outside, kicking it into gear to pick up her first graded victory. The time for the mile on firm turf was 1:33.77.
"She's been moving really well. I've been on her in the morning, and I was pretty pleased with the way she was going," Prat said. "She's always running in great races. She definitely deserved a graded stakes. She definitely gives you everything. I thought it was a pretty strong pace up front, so I was taking my time and when I asked her to go, she responded well."
"What was going through my mind was she might not get there," Lewis said. "But, as usual, she did not disappoint. She's really a genuine filly, gives it every time."
Going to Vegas, Nasty, Guitty, Croughavouke, Quiet Secretary, and Mind Out completed the order of finish.
Warren's Showtime, a California homebred for Benjamin and Sally Warren, improved her record to 6-0-5 from 13 starts and pushed her earnings to $520,251. She is by multiple graded stakes winner Clubhouse Ride and out of the Warrens' grade 1-winning Affirmative mare Warren's Veneda, who also has a Clubhouse Ride yearling filly. Lewis trained both Warren's Showtime's sire and dam.
"This is just wonderful, and it's great that this is Craig's 1,000th win," Benjamin Warren said. "This puts her at $500,000 in earnings at age 3, and that's pretty good. We've got her dam back in foal to Clubhouse Ride, so that's really something to look forward to. I went partners with (former MLB All Star) Irv Noren on my first horse in 1980, so to have this filly doing this well is tremendous."
