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Black Mamba earns her grade in Beverly Hills Double Down Stables' BLACK MAMBA (NZ) (Black Minnaloushe), who had finished second or third in her six graded stakes attempts since arriving in the United States last summer, broke her bad luck streak with a 1 1/4-length win in the $150,000 Beverly Hills H. (G2) at Hollywood Park on Sunday. Trained by John Sadler, who saddled a quartet of stakes winners over the weekend, the bay mare tracked off the moderate pace early under Garrett Gomez before putting her best foot forward approaching the final turn, driving home on the outside to complete the 10-furlong, firm-turf affair in 2:01 1/5. The 7-5 choice paid $4.80, $2.80 and $2.40 while spearheading the $1 exotics: $24.10 exacta, $211.90 trifecta and $1,987.10 superfecta (1-2-5-8). Solva (GB) (Singspiel [Ire]) saved ground for the entirety of the race while close early, took a short lead in early stretch and fought on bravely while having little chance with the streaking winner. The 12-1 runner-up was 1 1/2 lengths clear of third and paid $9.60 and $7.20. Green Lyons (Ire) (Green Desert) had only one horse beaten after six panels but rallied with good energy to earn a black-type placing a head clear of fourth. Show was worth $7 for the 10-1 shot. Pacesetter Forest Melody (Forest Camp) dictated splits of :24 2/5, :48 3/5, 1:13 1/5 and 1:37 1/5 for the opening mile before fading to fourth in the final jumps. She capped the superfecta at 13-1, a head clear of Marzelline (Ire) (Barathea [Ire]), who was trailed by Foxysox (GB) (Foxhound), I Can See (Flying Chevron), Double Trouble (Brz) (Wild Event), Island Hop (Dynaformer) and Gotta Have Her (Royal Academy). Black Mamba upped her lifetime mark to 19-3-6-2, $359,171 with the win, which added $90,000 to her bankroll. The five-year-old has compiled a nice list of graded placings for Sadler, including the Yellow Ribbon S. (G1), Palomar H. (G2), Las Palmas H. (G2), Dahlia H. (G2), Buena Vista H. (G2) and, most recently, the Santa Barbara H. (G2). Bred in New Zealand by Keltern Stud, the winner is out of the Group 3 queen and classic-placed Sneetch (Grosvenor) and hails from the same family as Australasian Oaks (Aus-G1) heroine Tully Thunder (Thunder Gulch) and Oaks S. (Aus-G1) victress Sandy's Pleasure (Aus) (Dash O' Pleasure).
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