Label too good to Check in Garden City

Then the late-running Snow Top Mountain (Najran) arrived on the scene and

made Dominguez give Check the Label a crack of the whip to stay focused. The

winner held Snow Top Mountain at bay by three-quarters of a length, slogging

through 1 1/8 miles on the yielding inner turf in 1:51 2/5.

"On soft ground like this, it's very difficult to make up that kind of

ground, and she just overcame all the trouble," Dominguez said. "She showed that

she's a nice filly. She gave me a great kick -- really, it's hard to appreciate

how much I had to take away from her. For any horse it would have been a perfect

excuse not to finish up after that because of all the run that I took away from

her, but she was there for me."

"I have a lot of confidence in this filly," Motion said. "I thought she would

handle the going; she's handled just about everything thrown at her. Ramon had

to steady her coming out of the turn; once again he was impressed with how she

is able to get herself out of trouble. She's got such a tremendous turn of foot

she can get herself out of almost any situation. That's part of what makes her

special. The Jacksons and I will discuss what's next for her; we'll look at the

Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup ([G1] at Keeneland on October 16)."

Check the Label returned $4, $2.70 and $2.10 while keying the $18.40 exacta,

$108.50 trifecta and $898 superfecta (1-7-2-3). Snow Top Mountain, who was

crossing the wire in second for the fifth straight time, gave back $5.50 and

$3.70 as the 7-1 fourth choice. Gitchee Goomie held third, another length back,

and paid $4.50. Fellow longshot Persuading reported home another 2 3/4 lengths

astern in fourth. Queen of the Creek tired to fifth, followed by early stalkers

Negligee (Northern Afleet) and Triple Cream (Tapit). No Explaining (Ire) (Azamour

[Ire]) was scratched.

Acquired by the Jacksons from breeder Brereton C. Jones following the

Virginia Oaks, Check the Label now sports a mark of 13-6-2-1, $491,227. The dark

bay sophomore has spent most of her career on the grass, expressing a clear

preference for that surface. Following her 3 1/2-length maiden score over a mile

on the Colonial lawn, she made her stakes debut in the Junior Champion S., but

she failed to put her best foot forward when the race was transferred to the

sloppy Monmouth main track and wound up fourth. She eventually got the chance to

run in a turf stakes in the final start of her juvenile campaign, rallying for

second in the Caressing H. at Churchill Downs.

Check the Label was again adversely affected by a stakes being rained off the

turf in her sophomore debut, the Sweetest Chant S. at Gulfstream, where she

checked in a distant third. Back on the grass for her next two, she finished a

closing second in the Coconut Grove S. and fourth in the Herecomesthebride S.

(G3) before breaking through in the Appalachian S. (G3) at Keeneland by three

parts of a length. She overcame trouble in the stretch to register a 1

1/2-length victory in the aforementioned Sands Point, and again had to maneuver

en route to her 2 3/4-length decision in the Virginia Oaks.

The Kentucky-bred is out of the unraced Mazel Trick mare Don't Trick Her,

making her a half-sister to stakes queen On the Menu (Canadian Frontier); a

juvenile filly named Include Me Out (Include), who was promoted to fifth in her

August 29 debut at Del Mar; an unnamed yearling colt by Include; and a 2010

filly by Divine Park.

Check the Label hails from the immediate family of millionaire Sweet Talker,

also by Stormin Fever, who scored her biggest career triumph over Keeneland's

turf in the 2005 Queen Elizabeth II Invitational Challenge Cup. Check the

Label's fourth dam is the influential producer *Nato II (*Court Martial),

ancestress of such noted performers as Quack (T. V. Lark), It's Freezing (T. V.

Commercial), Flemensfirth (Alleged) and Wild Rush (Wild Again).