Four-year-old Humble Clerk (Humble Eleven--Deputy Clerk, by Deputy Minister) earned $90,000 for her sixth win in 17 career races. The Matron marks her first graded stakes win since taking the Golden Rod Stakes in 1999. Niall M. O'Callaghan trains Humble Clerk, who was bred in Arkansas by Jim Danaher.
Gary A. Tanaka's Humble Clerk beat Maltese Superb by a length in Saturday's $150,000 Arlington Matron Handicap (gr. III) at Arlington Park.Ridden by Larry Melancon, Humble Clerk covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.53 on a fast track and paid $11.40, $5.60, and $3.40 in the race for fillies and mares 3-year-old and up. Maltese Superb returned $6.20 and $3.40. Lakenheath paid $3.40 to show. The winning exacta combination returned $72.80. Lady Melesi, Instinct, Taste the Passion, and Asher completed the order of finish."She broke well and was laying third," said Melancon. "I didn't have to force her and I was really comfortable where I was. She's a filly that has a long run. I could see that Rene (Douglas on runner-up Maltese Superb) had some horse underneath him, but so did I. My horse was running more freely than his and I felt that on the turn I had a chance to (win)."
