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Citronnade rules Beverly Hills

Citronnade loped along by herself throughout the Beverly Hills (Benoit Photo) Stronach Stables' homebred CITRONNADE (Lemon Drop Kid) only faced four rivals in Sunday's $150,000 Beverly Hills H. (G2) at Hollywood Park, and the Bobby Frankel-trained four-year-old turned the grassy event into a paid workout. Leading all the way through easy splits of :25, :50, 1:14 1/5 and 1:37 4/5 beneath jockey David Flores, the bay lass pulled off to be 2 1/2 lengths clear at the wire, finishing the 1 1/4-mile firm turf test in 2:01 2/5. "It looked like a workout, didn't it?" assistant trainer Humberto Ascanio said. "I was actually nervous saddling this filly today, but I knew she was confident." Flores could do nothing more than agree. "She just enjoys running," he said. "She was just galloping -- she wasn't even trying. I was sitting chilly and when she felt them getting close, I mean she just goes. After the wire, she felt a horse coming and she wanted to go again.

"It's been a while since I rode a horse like this one. Sitting on a horse like this is a privilege."

Sent off the heavy 1-5 favorite, Citronnade paid $2.40, $2.10 and $2.10 while keying the $10.40 exacta and $22.30 trifecta (1-5-6). Andrea (NZ) (Danasinga) tracked in second throughout and was 1 3/4 lengths in front of Naughty Rafaela (Brz) (Royal Academy) at the wire to return $6 and $3 at 18-1. Naughty Rafaela also finished in the same spot she ran, but had to fight for the show, just getting her head in front of Mabadi (Sahm) on the line. She returned $2.10 as the 9-2 second choice. Nakaba (Brz) (Know Heights [Ire]) was another nose back in fifth, while Memorette (Memo [Chi]) was scratched.

"Citronnade is a real tough horse," said Michael Baze, who guided Andrea. "We had an easy pace and slowed it down a little bit, but the winner had too much left. It was a nice clean trip, but we were just second best."

Citronnade moved her 2007 record to a perfect four-for-four with this one, with each win coming in a graded event. She made her seasonal bow in the San Gorgonio H. (G2), added the Santa Ana H. (G2) in March, then pulled off yet another front-running victory in the Gamely Breeders' Cup S. (G1) prior to his one.

The four-year-old has actually now captured five straight, beginning her current streak in November's Audrey Skirball-Kenis S. at Hollywood Park, and also owns a win from last year's Graceful Darby S.

The Kentucky-bred miss is out of the stakes-winning Primarily (Lord at War [Arg]), making her a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Whiskey Wisdom (Wild Again). More notably, she counts 1997 Canadian champion two-year-old filly Primaly (Alydeed), who was third in that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), and 2000 Canadian champion two-year-old filly Poetically (Silver Deputy) as half-siblings. Primarily has also produced an unraced juvenile filly named Be Glorious (Red Bullet).

Citronnade's record stands at 11-8-2-0 and she's accumulated $657,080 in lifetime earnings. Ascanio said the filly would get some time off now and be pointed toward the August 11 Beverly D. S. (G1) at Arlington Park.

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