Sire BLAME’s newest graded stakes winner, three-year-old filly Blame Debbie, went wire-to-wire to take the $125,000 Rood and Riddle Dowager Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland on Oct. 18th for trainer Graham Motion, and owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Michael P. Cloonan and Timothy C. Thornton.
The filly broke well and set the pace along the inside, leading the pack down the backstretch in relatively slow fractions of :26.66, :53.68, and 1:20.68 through the first six furlongs. With stern pressure coming from Grade 2 winner Always Shopping on the outside, Blame Debbie dug in as they rounded the third turn. The pair dueled gamely as they charged for home, pulling clear of the rest of the field in a fierce battle down to the wire. Blame Debbie refused to let her rival pass.
Now back-to-back wins for the daughter of BLAME, Blame Debbie was also Grade 2-placed as a two-year-old in the Demoiselle S. (G2) last year at Aqueduct. Bred in Kentucky by Threave Main Stud, Blame Debbie is out of the Invasor mare (ARG) Jadwa, from the family of Cartier Champion 2-year-old Aljabr.