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Lady digs the turf in All Along Earle I. Mack's homebred LADY DIGBY (Grand Slam) overtook longtime leader Eclisse (Fr) (Ski Chief) and held off the late run of Rutherienne (Pulpit) to earn her first graded victory in Saturday's $188,500 All Along S. (G3) at Colonial Downs. With jockey Jeremy Rose aboard, the Graham Motion trainee was 2 1/4 lengths clear on the line while finishing 1 1/8 miles on the good turf in 1:52. Elvis Trujillo sent Eclisse straight to the front when the gates opened, and the bay lass opened up by five lengths through a quarter in :24 2/5 and a half-mile in :48 4/5. High Moment (High Yield) stalked in second while Lady Digby settled in third just off the rail, and the pair began making up ground on the leader through six furlongs in 1:14. High Moment faded rounding the turn, but Lady Digby was just finding her stride, splitting rivals nearing the quarter pole and grabbing the advantage late en route to her second win of the year. Sent off the 4-1 third pick, Lady Digby returned $10.20, $5 and $3.20 while keying the $65 exacta and $197.60 trifecta. Eclisse held well for second, just a half-length in front of the top-class Rutherienne, who closed with a rush down the stretch. The pacesetter paid $8.80 and $4.20 at 8-1, while 3-5 favorite Rutherienne gave back $2.10. It was another half-length back to Dancing Band (Dixieland Band), who ended the $1,028.80 superfecta (2-4-9-5), then came J'ray (Distant View), Royal Pleasure (Royal Academy) and High Moment. Indescribable (Pleasant Tap), Palmilla (Crowd Pleaser) and Valbenny (Ire) (Val Royal [Fr]) were all withdrawn. Lady Digby broke her maiden at first asking for trainer Reade Baker, then ran second in a first-level allowance in October of 2006 at Woodbine. She wasn't seen again until last June, reappearing in Motion's barn, and later in the summer went on to take her initial turf try over this course. The bay miss traveled to Saratoga to make her stakes debut, running third in the Weekend Madness S., and ended her sophomore campaign with a fourth in the Calder Oaks in October. So far this season, Lady Digby has added a win in the Dahlia S. and runner-up efforts in the Hillsborough S. (G3) and Gallorette H. (G3) to her line, which now stands at 12-4-4-2, $304,252. The Kentucky-bred Lady Digby is the first registered foal and only starter out of the winning Compete (El Prado [Ire]), who has since produced an unnamed juvenile lass and a 2008 filly, both by Street Cry (Ire). Lady Digby is from the same family as 1990 Alcibiades S. (G2) heroine and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) runner-up Private Treasure (Explodent).
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