Dade Babe wires Pucker Up

Lawrence G. Peifer's DADE BABE (Cimarron Secret) continued her rise up the

class ranks in Monday's $100,000

Pucker

Up S. (G3), easily winning the nine-furlong turf affair for three-year-old

fillies in wire-to-wire fashion. The former claimer traversed the good Arlington

turf in a hand-timed 1:51 3/5 with jockey Florent Geroux.

An 8 1/2-length romper over $17,500 claiming rivals three starts back, the

Dan Miller-trained bay sprinted clear a few jumps out of the gate and led by

double-digit lengths down the backstretch, establishing splits of :24 4/5, :49

3/5 and 1:14 2/5. Dade Babe turned for home with about a five-length lead and

was never threatened to the wire as 2-1 favorite La Cloche (Ghostzapper)

futilely gave chase in second.

"It was my plan to open up a couple of lengths, but I didn't think I'd be

that far out in front," Geroux said. "She was going fast but she was real

relaxed. She took a breather when I wanted her to and she ran well in the

straight. She was just much the best today."

Sent off the 6-1 fourth choice in her stakes debut, Dade Babe returned

$15.20, $6.80 and $5.20 for the 3 3/4-length decision. La Cloche, who rated far

off the pace in third in the nine-horse field before switching spots in the

stretch with Silent Candy (Candy Ride [Arg]), paid $3.60 and $3.20 for the

place.

"I just wanted to get my filly really comfortable in the race, but that other

filly was gone already," said Junior Alvarado of his trip aboard the runner-up.

"She did really good, but nobody was going to catch the winner."

Silent Candy, who wound up another 1 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up at

10-1, gave back $6.40. Dundalk Dust (Military), Maddie's Odyssey (Kitten's Joy),

Cave Creeker (Langfuhr), Mourette (Smart Strike), Besitos (Greatness) and

Kilmore Quay (Ire)  (Traditionally) came next under the wire. Go Ask Alex (Afleet

Alex) was withdrawn in favor of Monday's Glens Falls H. (G3) at Saratoga, where

she finished seventh.

The exotics totaled $58.20 (exacta), $478 (trifecta) and $2,734.40 (1-8-10-4

superfecta).

Bred in Florida by Francis McDonnell, Dade Babe was twice an RNA, failing to

sell for $1,500 as an OBS August yearling and was again led out unsold for

$11,000 as an OBS April two-year-old. She is out of the winning Zooming (Sheikh

Albadou [GB]) and is a full sister to the multiple stakes-placed filly Zooming

By. Grade 3 winners Sambacarioca (Irish Tower) and Yessirgeneralsir (Patton) are

closely related.

Since being haltered for a $25,000 tag in March, Dade Babe has now won three

of five starts for her new connections, including a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance

at Arlington in her previous outing. She's amassed career earnings of $122,440

from a 11-5-1-1 line.