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Switch returns to winning ways in A Gleam
"I don't know how many Grade 1 races she has won, but she ran a really nice race today and hopefully she will continue to get back on the form that she once had." Switch paid $6.60, $3.80 and $2.60 for the victory, with Sugarinthemorning holding second by 2 1/4 lengths over Glamorista. American Lady, Teddy's Promise, Izzy Rules and Mildly Offensive completed the order under the wire. "She is a great filly, she always tries so hard," said Marin Garcia, who had piloting duties aboard Sugarinthemorning. "I let her run away from the gate, she wanted to be there. We tried to get to the lead, she did and I got beat by a really good horse." Campaigned by Lee and Susan Searing's C R K Stable, Switch earned an automatic berth into the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint by virtue of her win on Saturday, something Sadler said was the goal all along. "(Her owners) brought her back this year just to try her again in the Breeders' Cup," the horseman said. "She's been second (in the BC Filly & Mare Sprint) the last two years. Now we get a Breeders' Cup at home (at Santa Anita). I love the 'Win and You're In' (program). I think that's tremendous. You save a lot of money on entry fees and you take the pressure off. She's been a very good horse for us." While Switch hasn't been able to score, the five-year-old daughter of Quiet American has placed in six of her eight races since taking the Santa Monica. Among those were seconds in the Santa Margarita Invitational, Apple Blossom Handicap and Vanity Handicap, all Grade 1s, as well as thirds in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes and Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes. The bay mare didn't show much in her opening two races this year, running off-the-board in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff Stakes and Desert Stormer Handicap, but adds the A Gleam to wins in the Grade 1 La Brea, Grade 2 Hollywood Oaks and Torrey Pines Stakes from 2010. Her record now stands at 21-6-7-4 and she's earned $1,362,526 lifetime. "We knew with Switch, she wasn't real sharp in her first race (May 5 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs) and I thought she needed her last race (when fourth in the Desert Stormer Handicap on June 17), so it moved her forward for this one," Sadler said. "It's all a process." Bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, Switch sold for $150,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. She is out of the Grade 3-winning Nicholas mare Antoniette, who has also produced stakes scorer Keystone Gulch. Switch's third dam, the Never Bend mare Tash, is noted for foaling French highweight and sire Mukaddamah, Group 3 hero Tatami and dual stakes victress Mariuka, the latter of whom would go on to produce Grade 3 winner Lydgate. Switch's fourth dam is Broodmare of the Year Natashka. "It's been a rough season for me with my (graded stakes) horses," Sadler admitted on the penultimate day of Hollywood's spring/summer meet. "We ended up strong, so that's really good. There were a lot of Saturdays through the middle of the meet here where we were second or third, and we're supposed to be winning those races. I'm very relieved and happy and we'll keep working. That's our program. Sometimes you take steps." Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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