Marketing Mix and Garrett Gomez take control in the Rodeo Drive.
Glen Hill Farm's Marketing Mix took advantage of a quick early pace to win the grade I Rodeo Drive Stakes on the turf at Santa Anita Park Sept. 29 (VIDEO) .
With Garrett Gomez riding for trainer Tom Proctor, Marketing Mix finished ahead of Nereid in second and Stormy Lucy in third in the 13-horse field of fillies and mares. The winner paid $4 for her first grade I win as the even-money favorite in the newly christened Rodeo Drive, previously the Yellow Ribbon.
Now eight-for 15 lifetime, Marketing Mix, a 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro filly bred in Ontario, Canada, by Sean Fitzhenry, will be pointed to the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita. The Rodeo Drive is a "Win and You're In" race for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT).
Marketing Mix, out of the Kris S. mare Instant Thought, benefited from a rapid early pace set by Let's Go Cheyenne and Vivo Per Lei, another Protctor runner who pushed the leader through fractions of :23.69, :45.78, and 1:09.62 on a firm turf course. The top pair had about 10 lengths on the rest of the field at one point, but by the time they hit the far turn, the lead had evaporated.
Marketing Mix was among the first to move, and she was in front at the one-mile marker in 1:35. The filly pulled away with ease to win the 1 1/4-mile Rodeo Drive in 1:59.20.
Marketing Mix won by 2 1/4 lengths over Nereid, who finished the same 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Stormy Lucy. Camelia Rose finished fourth.
"I had a perfect trip," Gomez said after the race. "She settled into a great spot."
Marketing Mix rated in fifth or sixth for the first three-quarters of a mile before making her move. Clearly the early pace played to her advantage.
"This is really nice for (Glen Hill Farm)," Proctor said. "Winning a grade I is hard to do. The filly will be here (in California), and if she's doing well, we'll run her in the Breeders' Cup."
Proctor said he would have been disappointed had Marketing Mix lost. "That's not a good way to go into the race, but you'd have to be the way she has run good all year."
In her previous start, Marketing Mix finished a fast-closing second to I'm A Dreamer in the Beverly D Stakes (gr. IT) at Arlington Park. The multiple graded-stakes winner won two grade II events on turf in Canada this year: the Dance Smartly and the Nassau.
