Paddy's Daisy, Louvain Win Miesque Divisions

Favored Paddy's Daisy, an Eastern shipper trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by Corey Nakatani, rallied impressively to nip Conveyor's Angel by a neck in the second division of Friday's $75,000 Miesque (gr. IIIT) for 2-year-old fillies on the Hollywood Park turf.

In the opening division, the Bobby Frankel-trained Louvain, making her first start in the United States with Ramon Dominguez aboard, recorded a late-running two-length win over favored Royal Copenhagen. The Miesque was split into two divisions after 16 horses were entered.

Making her sixth career start at six different tracks, Paddy's Daisy, a Stonehaven-bred chestnut filly by King of Kings-Mrs. Paddy (Woodman), won for the fourth time. She owns a three-race winning streak.

Racing sixth on the backstretch of the one-mile event, she moved up four wide on the far turn to reach the leaders, hooked up with Conveyor's Angel and Gary Stevens in mid-stretch and prevailed narrowly. It was five lengths back to the third-place finisher, Kenza.

"Down the backside, I just kept her in the clear like Todd wanted us to do," Nakatani said. "He was right. She was nice and relaxed. All I had to do was get her to quicken, and she started moving on her own about the three-eighths pole and ran down that filly of Gary Stevens to win the race. Coming through the lane, Gary's filly picked it up a notch again. I was hoping that wouldn't leave my filly with too much to do, but she prevailed. I thought she was awesome."

Mac Rhapsody, Lady Le Quesne, Wise Investor, Witten and She Sings followed.

Paddy's Daisy, who was coming off a stakes victory at Keeneland Oct. 28, increased her earnings to $186,336.

She paid $5.40, $3 and $2.60. Conveyor's Angel returned $3.60 and $2.80 and Kenza, ridden by Victor Espinoza, was $3.80 to show.

(Chart, Equibase)

In the earlier division, Louvain, who had raced exclusively in France, drew to even terms with the leaders in mid-stretch after a slow break and overpowered her rivals under good handling from Dominguez.

The Edmund Gann-owned bay filly by Sinndar-Flanders (Common Grounds) has recorded a 2-2-2 record in six lifetime starts, more than doubling her earnings Friday to $87,143.

The French-bred Royal Copenhagen, the 8-5 favorite in the field of eight ridden by Rene Douglas, could not match the winner after challenging with an inside move. She held second by a neck over Irish-bred La Maitresse.

Lunar Flight, Kachina Dream, Lady Truffles, Crystal House and Culture Clash trailed.

Louvain paid $6, $3.20 and $3. Royal Copenhagen returned $3.20 and $2.80. La Maitresse, ridden by Jon Court, was $4.20 to show.

(Chart, Equibase)