Champion Female Sprinter Ce Ce Takes Two-Turn Azeri

As much as Ce Ce may be a champion sprinter, she displayed the heart of a champion router March 12 at Oaklawn Park. Returning to a two-turn distance, the 2021 Eclipse Award-winning Elusive Quality mare turned back Pauline's Pearl and 2020 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Shedaresthedevil in the final sixteenth to register a three-quarters length victory in the $350,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) for older fillies and mares. "That's what champions do," said trainer Michael McCarthy. "It was a gritty performance." The Azeri marked Ce Ce's first two-turn test since the Santa Maria Stakes (G2) on May 22, 2021, when she was fourth. Her previous five starts at been at seven furlongs or less, including a second in the Feb. 5 seven-furlong Santa Monica Stakes (G2) to start 2022, but the Azeri illustrated how some added ground does not pose an insurmountable problem for the Eclipse Award-winning sprinter. "It worked out perfectly for me," Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza said. "I was able to take the lead so quickly, then in the last sixteenth she heard all that noise and hit the brakes on me but when the other horses came to next her she kept going again." For owner Bo Hirsch's 2021 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) winner, it made her 2-for-2 at Oaklawn, putting her in position to try to duplicate her earlier victory at the Hot Springs, Ark., track in the upcoming $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 23 at the same two-turn, 1 1/16-mile distance as the Azeri. The California-based Ce Ce won the 2020 Apple Blossom in another thrilling stretch battle, edging Ollie's Candy by a head. "Obviously you have to give the Apple Blossom some thought. We'll get back home and see where we are and go from there," said McCarthy, who watched the Azeri from his primary base at Santa Anita Park. "It's great to have options like the Apple Blossom and the Ogden Phipps (G1, at Belmont Park)." The win was the ninth in 18 starts for Ce Ce and pushed the career earnings for the homebred daughter of the Belong to Me mare Miss Houdini past the $2 million mark to $2,003,100. The 10th of 12 foals from her dam, Ce Ce is a half sister to grade 2 winner Papa Clem (Smart Strike) and the stakes-placed Magical Victory (Victory Gallop) and a full sister to the stakes-placed Stradella Road. Running over a track groomed into a fast condition after Oaklawn was blanketed with snow the previous day, Shedaresthedevil set the early pace in the Azeri. Making her first start since last year's Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), the three-time grade 1 winner and 2021 Azeri victor led by a length under Florent Geroux after a half-mile in :47.53 while Ce Ce was fourth on the outside in the field of seven. Midway on the turn, Ce Ce and Espinoza moved up to challenge Shedaresthedevil with Pauline's Pearl gaining ground outside of the eventual winner. By the three-sixteenths pole, Ce Ce held a short lead and at the eighth pole, the 8-5 second choice ($5.40) was in front by a length and seemingly en route to a clear victory. Then the complexion of the race changed. "I was thinking good things coming to the eighth pole and then in a matter of jumps coming to the eighth pole I couldn't tell if she was trying to pull herself up or getting tired. She lost some interest there and started playing around. But it's a good problem to have because they obviously have something left in the tank. She was able to re-rally in time," McCarthy said. While both Pauline's Pearl and Shedaresthedevil cut into Ce Ce's margin, in the final strides the 6-year-old mare dug down and fended off both bids and edged away again to reach the wire first in 1:43.55. "She ran a big race like always," Espinoza said. Stonestreet Stables' Pauline's Pearl, a homebred 4-year-old Tapit filly trained by Steve Asmussen, took second by a length over Shedaresthedevil. "I didn't have a good break, but she did well. I thought for a second she would get her (Ce Ce), but she got the jump again on me," said Pauline's Pearl's jockey, Joel Rosario. "But she ran hard. She looked like she was ready to go. Little unlucky with the trip coming out of the gate, but like I said, she ran well." The Brad Cox-trained Shedaresthedevil was sent off as the even-money favorite in her first start since the daughter of Daredevil ran sixth in the Nov. 6 Distaff. Shortly after that start, she sold for $5 million from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment at The November Sale at Fasig-Tipton, where some of her owners from the past racing season—Flurry Racing Stable and Qatar Racing Limited—teamed with Whisper Hill Farm to secure her. "She tried. We just made the pace. I thought they were pretty realistic fractions for the Azeri, for these kind of fillies and mares," Geroux said. "The filly who beat me is a very nice filly, too. Ce Ce won the Apple Blossom two years ago, so we know she likes the track. Tough customer. Hopefully, it got the rust out of her (Shedaresthedevil) and she'll be tougher next time."