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My Typhoon gives Mott hat-trick in Diana Live Oak Plantation's MY TYPHOON (Ire) (Giant's Causeway) parlayed a stalk-and-pounce trip into a victory in Saturday's $520,000 Diana S. (G1) at Saratoga, racking up her first Grade 1 score and handing trainer Bill Mott his third consecutive victory in the race. By capturing the first Breeders' Cup Challenge event, My Typhoon earned an automatic berth in the October 27 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) at Monmouth Park under the new "Win and You're In" format. As expected, Countess Scala (Fusaichi Pegasus) went straight to the front, rattling off splits of :23 2/5 and :47 4/5 on the firm turf. My Typhoon was perfectly positioned in second by Eddie Castro, who was poised to strike on the far turn. With a sudden move, My Typhoon collared Countess Scala, took command through six furlongs in 1:11 2/5 and opened up by 1 1/2 lengths in midstretch. Argentina (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) rallied threateningly to her inside, but My Typhoon always had her measure as she held on by three-quarters of a length. After completing nine furlongs in an excellent 1:46 2/5, the winner gave back $8.10, $4.70 and $2.80 at 3-1 while spearheading exotics worth $59 (exacta) and $133 (5-7-4 trifecta). "She settled nicely off the pace, and (Castro) did a nice job of getting her to relax," said Mott, who turns 54 on Sunday. "It looked like they were going to run into her at the quarter-pole. At the eighth-pole, she gave it another little spurt and said, 'See you later.'" Argentina made a highly encouraging seasonal reappearance, improving upon her third in last year's Diana. The 9-1 runner-up returned $7.60 and $3.90. Makderah (Ire) (Danehill), the 6-5 favorite, had every chance in the lane but wound up a one-paced third, yielding $2.40. Meribel (Peaks and Valleys) checked in fourth, followed by Danzon (Royal Academy), Mauralakana (Fr) (Muhtathir [GB]), Magnificent Song (Unbridled's Song) and a tailed-off Countess Scala. With this eighth career stakes score to her credit, My Typhoon advanced her record to 19-9-3-3 while boosting her bankroll to $1,303,361. The five-year-old chestnut mare has now won three in a row, following tallies in the Jenny Wiley S. (G2) at Keeneland and the Just a Game S. (G2) at Belmont last time out. Her resume had already included victories in the Mrs. Revere S. (G2), Virginia Oaks and Hilltop Breeders' Cup S. in 2005, as well as the Ballston Spa H. (G2) and Mint Julep H. (G3) in 2006. My Typhoon has also placed in six stakes, chief among them the 2005 Garden City Breeders' Cup S. (G1), and she was a close fourth in last year's running of the Diana. Bred by Sunderland Holdings in Ireland, the winner was purchased for more than $2.9 million as a weanling at the 2002 Tattersalls December Sale. My Typhoon is out of 1993 French highweight older mare Urban Sea (Miswaki), who captured that year's edition of the famed Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1). Urban Sea has excelled herself as a broodmare as well, producing 2001 European champion three-year-old colt Galileo (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), now a promising young sire; 2002 Italian highweight Black Sam Bellamy (Sadler's Wells); Group 3 winner Urban Ocean (Bering [GB]), a highweight at three in Ireland in 1999; English Group 3 winner and classic-placed All Too Beautiful (Sadler's Wells); English stakes winner and dual classic-placed Melikah (Ire) (Lammtarra); Blue Wind S. (Ire-G3)runner-up Cherry Hinton (Green Desert), fifth in the June 1 Epsom Oaks (Eng-G1); as well as an unraced two-year-old colt named Sea's Legacy (Green Desert) . Urban Sea is a half-sister to King's Best (Kingmambo), winner of the English Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) in 2000. Mott doesn't have a specific short-term target in mind for My Typhoon. "This was the race that we wanted to win," the horseman said. "Everything else from here is gravy. I'm going to look at the calendar and see what's available for her."
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