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Gypsy enjoys good fortune back at a mile in Matriarch

Gypsy's Warning is now a three-time Group/Grade 1 heroine (Benoit Photo) Although Juddmonte's dual classic winner Special Duty (GB) (Hennessy) was hammered into even-money favoritism in her American debut in Friday's $250,000 Matriarch S. (G1), she never looked like firing. Instead, it was the race's other multiple Group 1 star, Team Valor International and Green Lantern Stables' GYPSY'S WARNING (SAf) (Mogok), who stamped her authority and lived up to her international credentials. Sweeping from midpack and blowing past the pacesetting Wasted Tears (Najran), the Graham Motion mare pulled away to record her first top-level victory in North America. As expected, Wasted Tears outsprinted erstwhile pace rival Camille C (Roman Dancer) and dictated through fractions of :23 1/5, :47 1/5 and 1:10 4/5. Westwood Pride (Pleasantly Perfect) tracked in third, with Lilly Fa Pootz (Gilded Time) in fourth. Gypsy's Warning was content to settle in fifth for new rider Joel Rosario, ahead of Go Forth North (North Light [Ire]) and the trailing Special Duty. Wasted Tears stuck to her guns entering the stretch, and the game mare clung to a slim lead through seven furlongs in 1:22 2/5. Camille C and Westwood Pride were both bearing down on her, but she fought them off valiantly. Wider out, however, came Gypsy's Warning, and her rousing late kick brooked no opposition. As determinedly as Wasted Tears knuckled down on the inside, Gypsy's Warning had too much momentum and sailed 1 1/4 lengths clear. The winner stopped the teletimer in 1:34 for the firm-turf mile, rewarding her loyalists with $9.80, $4.20 and $3.20 as the nearly 4-1 third choice.

"I didn't really take her back," Rosario said after his first Matriarch victory. "I just let her relax and get comfortable. She seemed like she was going to be a little rank, but she settled herself down. When I asked her to go, she really kicked.

"The only instructions I got were to let her relax, keep her covered up and make one run. I don't know how good she is, but she really showed me something today."

Wasted Tears, the 2-1 second choice, saved second by a half-length and gave back $3.60 and $2.80. Go Forth North, who closed for third, provided $3.80 at 12-1. The $1 exotics totaled $14 (exacta), $68.90 (trifecta) and $269.80 (1-7-5-4 superfecta) with the nearly 20-1 Westwood Pride another half-length astern in fourth. Camille C, Lilly Fa Pootz and Special Duty completed the order under the wire.

"She broke well, but she never really wanted to get in the race," jockey Rafael Bejarano said of Special Duty. "She was just completely lost out there. She warmed up real well and I thought she was going to run big."

Gypsy's Warning improved her record to 16-7-0-7, $491,862. Among the best of her crop at ages two and three in South Africa, she won at the Group 1 level in the South African Fillies Classic and Thekwini S., and also scored in the Acacia H. (SAf-G3). She placed in the Golden Slipper S. (SAf-G1), Empress Club S. (SAf-G1) and Woolavington 2000 S. (SAf-G1).

Transferred to the United States, Gypsy's Warning did not return to action for nearly a year, but made a triumphant American debut in the May 31 Eatowntown S. (G3) at Monmouth. The five-year-old bay finished a close fifth in the Dance Smartly S. (Can-G2) at Woodbine, then turned in a pair of third-place efforts in the Beverly D. S. (G1) and Yellow Ribbon S. (G1) last time out. She was cutting back in trip to a mile here for the first time since early 2009.

Produced by Gypsy Queen (Royal Chalice), a full sister to South African Group 2 winners Noble Destiny and Royal Prophecy, Gypsy's Warning is a half-sister to the South African Group 2 winner Surabi (Wolfhound). She was bred in South Africa by Rathmor Stud.

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