BLAME’s Claiborne homebred Admit had multiple stakes placings to her name before Friday but went even better with a victory in the Valley View S. (G2) for a first stakes win.
Racing against a field of 11 others in the one-mile turf race, Admit broke from the inside gate and kept her spot on the inside early despite dropping back to midpack as the field spread out quickly with the leader eager to open up multiple lengths. While that horse was setting a strong pace, Admit decided to switch out a few paths and race between horses down the backstretch.
The BLAME 3-year-old started making a move going into the turn but had much ground to make up in the stretch.
It turned out Admit had plenty left to do what needed to be done as she showed a huge turn of foot to put herself in the lead inside the final furlong. While others also made late runs, Admit kept running on to win by an easy 1 ½ lengths.
“We were hopeful,” said trainer Thomas Drury Jr. “Her last couple works have been fantastic, and we were cautiously optimistic. After the Kentucky Downs race, Walker reached out to me and said, ‘The Valley View at Keeneland seems like it’s the logical spot for her,’ and we kind of worked backward from that. I’m just truly at a loss for words. This is a lot of fun.”
Admit has been a spectacularly consistent filly with eight top three finishes in 11 starts also including a second in the Cincinnati Trophy S. and thirds in the Pucker Up S. (G3) and Bourbonette Oaks for $608,323 in earnings.
The filly is out of the WAR FRONT mare Profess, who has produced four winners from six to race with her other winners including Admit’s five-time winning full sister Lady Lawyer. Profess is one of 12 winners out of her Grade 1 winning dam Preach, who has been a big influence on the Claiborne breeding program.
Preach is also the dam of Grade 2 winner and late Claiborne sire Pulpit, the graded stakes placed Urban Poet, and stakes placed Tell It. Five of Preach’s daughters have also produced stakes horses with the group including Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Wild Shot and stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Endless Chatter with many others also hailing from the mare’s granddaughters and great granddaughters.
“I think she’s the seventh or eighth generation of a (female) family of ours, so it’s nice to see it all come to fruition, when you cultivate these families year over year, generation over generation. To have BLAME be her sire, who’s a homebred of ours as well, it’s really special,” said Claiborne’s Walker Hancock.
This is the second stakes winner in October alone for BLAME, who is set to stand at Claiborne for $25,000 in 2025.