Marketing Mix dethrones Dhaamer in Sunset

Sunday's Grade 3, $100,250

Sunset

Handicap was destined for the history books, if only as its final-ever

running at Hollywood Park. But thanks to Glen Hill Farm's Marketing Mix and her

Hall of Fame rider Gary Stevens, this 72nd edition of the Sunset will be

memorable for a much happier reason. The Tom Proctor mare repelled a challenge

from defending champion Dhaamer, becoming only the third distaffer to win the

spring/summer meet's closing-day feature.

"It's nice to win the last Sunset," Proctor said. "A lot of good horses have

won it. It means something to me.

"I was a little concerned because she's in season today, but she's run that

way before," the trainer added.

Marketing Mix was also trying two new things on Sunday -- competing against

males, and stretching out to 1 1/2 miles -- but the public expressed its faith

in the multiple Grade 1 star by betting her down to 3-5 favoritism.

Course-and-distance specialist Dhaamer, her most dangerous rival, was a close

second choice at 6-5, and both ran right up to expectations.

Hawk's Eyes hustled to set the pace in his U.S. debut, and the multiple

Brazilian Group 1 winner sprinted clear through an opening quarter in an

unexpectedly swift :23 4/5 on the firm turf. Hawk's Eyes then began to relax

through a half in :48 1/5. A characteristically observant Stevens noted the

change in tempo and moved Marketing Mix forward into a stalking second. The Hall

of Famer kept the mare in close touch with the leader down the backstretch.

After six furlongs in 1:13 2/5, Marketing Mix increased her pressure, until she

drew alongside at the mile mark in 1:38 3/5.

Rapidly putting Hawk's Eyes away rounding the far turn, Marketing Mix

established daylight on the field and reached the 1 1/4-mile split in 2:02 3/5.

Dhaamer, who had been content to trail in the early going, now commenced his

bid, and the anticipated match race was on down the lane.

Although Dhaamer was closing on Marketing Mix approaching midstretch, she had

still more up her sleeve. The daughter of Medaglia d'Oro called on those

reserves and inched away from Dhaamer inside the final sixteenth, handing him

his first defeat on the Hollywood turf.

Marketing Mix crossed the wire with a length to spare and stopped the

teletimer in 2:26 3/5, paying $3.40, $2.20 and $2.10. The dark bay five-year-old

thus emulated the feat of the two prior female winners, champion Typecast in

1972 and Petite Ile in 1990.

"Tom (Proctor) told me in the paddock to just take the race to them," Stevens

said. "He said this mare can gallop faster than the rest of them. I didn't know

what the Brazilian horse (Hawk's Eyes) was going to do and (his rider) Victor

(Espinoza) was intent on getting the lead. I couldn't have paid to have a better

rabbit out in front of me.

"I just let my mare gallop. I had it in my head to two-minute lick her to the

three-eighths pole and set her down and work her three-eighths of a mile. I

don't know if (Proctor) was necessarily using this as a tune up for the Beverly

D (August 17 at Arlington Park), but it sure worked out. She was very, very

happy."

Dhaamer's connections were pleased with his valiant effort in defeat.

"No excuse," jockey Julien Leparoux said. "I came up to the filly and I

thought I was going to go by her, but she went again. My horse ran his race, but

she was just a little better."

"They both ran super," trainer Mike Mitchell said. "I knew if (Marketing Mix)

spotted my horse coming at her, she would fight, and she did. (Leparoux) rode

the horse perfect. He knew the mare, and he knew this horse.

"My horse ran his race," Mitchell added. "How can you be upset? It looked

like a two-horse race, and that's how they finished."

The top two were in a different league to the rest. Extensive, once a

stablemate of Marketing Mix's before being claimed by Vladimir Cerin in 2011,

checked in 6 3/4 lengths astern in third. He was in turn 8 3/4 lengths clear of

Hawk's Eyes, who faded to fourth. Why Not Be Perfect and Only the Gold completed

the order of finish.

Marketing Mix's eighth stakes score boosted her bankroll to $1,869,518 from a

record of 18-10-4-1. After placing in the 2011 Fury Stakes and Woodbine Oaks on

Polytrack, she improved markedly once Proctor transferred her to the turf.

Marketing Mix rolled in the Wonder Where by 4 3/4 lengths in her first try on

the surface, and added the Pucker Up by 3 1/4 lengths. Runner-up in the Queen

Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, where she fared best of the

American-based fillies, she wrapped up her sophomore season with a comprehensive

success in the Mrs. Revere.

Marketing Mix kicked off 2012 on a winning note in a tough Keeneland

allowance, beating Inglorious and Hungry Island. The form was reversed in the

Churchill Distaff Turf Mile on Kentucky Derby Day, when Hungry Island sprang a

mild upset. Marketing Mix wound up a subpar fourth, the only time in her career

that she has finished out of the top two on turf.

Next taking her game back to Woodbine, Marketing Mix rebounded with a pair of

victories in the Nassau and the Dance Smartly. She attempted the Beverly D. at

Arlington last August, but moved belatedly and fell a head short of I'm a

Dreamer.

Dispatched to Southern California, Marketing Mix scored her Grade 1

breakthrough in the September 29 Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita, and followed up

with a runner-up effort to Zagora in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at the

same venue.

Marketing Mix returned to action nearly seven months later in the May 27

Gamely at Hollywood, and earned another Grade 1 laurel by fending off Tiz

Flirtatious. Stevens rode her for the first time that day, and they are now

two-for-two together.

Proctor commented on her placement here, as well as her future targets.

"It was a combination of things why she ran here," the trainer noted. "The

weight was one. She was given 127 (pounds) for the Modesty (Handicap, which was

run Saturday at Arlington Park).

"I also wanted to see her run that far. (Stevens) thought she could run that

far, and I did, too.

"She has a lot of options, but she'll probably go in the Beverly D. We'll

see. Let's hope she comes out of the race well and we have that decision. That's

the main thing."

Bred by Sean Fitzhenry in Ontario, Marketing Mix was purchased by her current

connections for $150,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. She was produced by

the Kris S. mare Instant Thought, and her second dam, the multiple Grade/Group

3-placed Nimble Mind, is a full sister to multiple Grade 2 heroine Skimble, the

dam of two-time Pacific Classic star Skimming. This is also the family of Grade

1 winner Contredance; Group 2 scorer and multiple Grade 1-placed Eltish; and

1999 One Thousand Guineas victress Wince, the dam of Group 1 queen and

classic-placed Quiff.

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