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Label too good to Check in Garden City
Then the late-running Snow Top Mountain (Najran) arrived on the scene and made Dominguez give Check the Label a crack of the whip to stay focused. The winner held Snow Top Mountain at bay by three-quarters of a length, slogging through 1 1/8 miles on the yielding inner turf in 1:51 2/5. "On soft ground like this, it's very difficult to make up that kind of ground, and she just overcame all the trouble," Dominguez said. "She showed that she's a nice filly. She gave me a great kick -- really, it's hard to appreciate how much I had to take away from her. For any horse it would have been a perfect excuse not to finish up after that because of all the run that I took away from her, but she was there for me." "I have a lot of confidence in this filly," Motion said. "I thought she would handle the going; she's handled just about everything thrown at her. Ramon had to steady her coming out of the turn; once again he was impressed with how she is able to get herself out of trouble. She's got such a tremendous turn of foot she can get herself out of almost any situation. That's part of what makes her special. The Jacksons and I will discuss what's next for her; we'll look at the Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup ([G1] at Keeneland on October 16)." Check the Label returned $4, $2.70 and $2.10 while keying the $18.40 exacta, $108.50 trifecta and $898 superfecta (1-7-2-3). Snow Top Mountain, who was crossing the wire in second for the fifth straight time, gave back $5.50 and $3.70 as the 7-1 fourth choice. Gitchee Goomie held third, another length back, and paid $4.50. Fellow longshot Persuading reported home another 2 3/4 lengths astern in fourth. Queen of the Creek tired to fifth, followed by early stalkers Negligee (Northern Afleet) and Triple Cream (Tapit). No Explaining (Ire) (Azamour [Ire]) was scratched. Acquired by the Jacksons from breeder Brereton C. Jones following the Virginia Oaks, Check the Label now sports a mark of 13-6-2-1, $491,227. The dark bay sophomore has spent most of her career on the grass, expressing a clear preference for that surface. Following her 3 1/2-length maiden score over a mile on the Colonial lawn, she made her stakes debut in the Junior Champion S., but she failed to put her best foot forward when the race was transferred to the sloppy Monmouth main track and wound up fourth. She eventually got the chance to run in a turf stakes in the final start of her juvenile campaign, rallying for second in the Caressing H. at Churchill Downs. Check the Label was again adversely affected by a stakes being rained off the turf in her sophomore debut, the Sweetest Chant S. at Gulfstream, where she checked in a distant third. Back on the grass for her next two, she finished a closing second in the Coconut Grove S. and fourth in the Herecomesthebride S. (G3) before breaking through in the Appalachian S. (G3) at Keeneland by three parts of a length. She overcame trouble in the stretch to register a 1 1/2-length victory in the aforementioned Sands Point, and again had to maneuver en route to her 2 3/4-length decision in the Virginia Oaks. The Kentucky-bred is out of the unraced Mazel Trick mare Don't Trick Her, making her a half-sister to stakes queen On the Menu (Canadian Frontier); a juvenile filly named Include Me Out (Include), who was promoted to fifth in her August 29 debut at Del Mar; an unnamed yearling colt by Include; and a 2010 filly by Divine Park. Check the Label hails from the immediate family of millionaire Sweet Talker, also by Stormin Fever, who scored her biggest career triumph over Keeneland's turf in the 2005 Queen Elizabeth II Invitational Challenge Cup. Check the Label's fourth dam is the influential producer *Nato II (*Court Martial), ancestress of such noted performers as Quack (T. V. Lark), It's Freezing (T. V. Commercial), Flemensfirth (Alleged) and Wild Rush (Wild Again).
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