Having post 10 in a field of 13 was anything but unlucky for Lull, who won the Autumn Miss Stakes (G3) by 3 ¼ lengths. The 3-year-old War Front filly, who races as a homebred for Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider, covered a flat mile over the Santa Anita turf in a swift 1:32.66.
“I didn’t think we were going that quickly,” said winning jockey Flavien Prat. “I wouldn’t say that we were walking, but I didn’t think we were going fast. I guess she has a lot of speed because I was just cruising around and trying to keep her relaxed. When I asked her to go, she responded well.”
Trained by New York-based Cristophe Clement, Lull has been in the money eight of her 11 career starts. The Autumn Miss marked her first graded stakes score.
“We didn’t have a good draw, but Flavien managed to get a good position going into the first turn,” said longtime Clement assistant Christophe Lorieul. “We would have preferred to have her covered up, but she was second, so it was okay. The fractions were actually reasonable, and she was able to overcome everything and prevail.”
Earlier this year, Lull won the Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint Stakes, and during her career she has finished second or third in such races as the San Clemente Handicap (G2), Buffalo Trace Franklin County Stakes (G3), and JPMorgan Chase Jessamine Stakes (G3).
Lull is out of the winning Tiznow mare Quiet Now, who is a half-sister to 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam. Claiborne bought Quiet Now for $1.85 million at the 2011 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
War Front has 31 stakes horses to his credit this year, including G1 winners American Patriot, Avenge, Roly Poly, U S Navy Flag and War Flag. North America’s #1 sire of stakes winners in 2016, War Front stands for $250,000 at Claiborne.
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