COACHWHIP SCORES FIRST GRADED STAKES VICTORY IN GIII ARLINGTON MATRON

By Grant LaGrange —-

Calumet Farm’s Coachwhip drew clear in the final 1/16th- of a mile to win the GIII Arlington Matron impressively. A field of ten was scratched down to six older fillies who were sent 1 1/8th- miles over the Arlington synthetic main track.

Jockey Tyler Baze made the trip to Chicago to ride the Calumet homebred after riding her in her previous start in the GIII Bewitch at Keeneland in April. Coachwhip broke well under Baze, and was taken hold of to sit second behind pace setting Daddy’s Boo who set a 24.99 first quarter mile and a 49.18 half mile. Turning for home Coachwhip drew up alongside the early leader and drew away from the rest of the field at the 1/8th pole to win by an easy 3 ½- lengths. The final time for the 1 1/8th- miles was 1:51.80.

Trainer Jack Sisterson was confident in his five- year-old mare the whole way around, and had even more confidence in Tyler Baze,

“I had all the confidence in the world in Tyler Baze with her” Sisterson said. “He got to know her in the Bewitched last time out, and came to work her out at Keeneland where he was able to get her to relax in her works. I didn’t have to say a word to him, he knows her so well” he said.

“Going down the backside near the half-mile pole he really got her to relax, and at that point we were in a perfect spot so we knew if we didn’t win there’s no excuses” Sisterson explained.

This was the first Graded Stakes victory for Coachwhip who had previously never been on any other surface than the turf. After her victory on the synthetic main track Sisterson wants to see how she comes out of the race and lay out a plan from there,

“We’ll get her home and discuss things with the farm” he explained. “She’s such a hard trying filly. She always wears her heart on her sleeve as you could see today and she always gives us her best effort” Sisterson said. “She’s very versatile so we’ll have some options with her. We’ll get her back home to Keeneland and see how she is doing and go from there” he said.

Coachwhip is a five-year-old mare out of So You Think (NZ) and was bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm. She is now four for fifteen lifetime with seven other efforts where she has hit the board. The GIII Arlington Matron also marks her second victory of 2019.

Coachwhip paid $5.80, $4.80, $3.00. Second was #4 Strawberry Tequila who paid $11.80, $4.20. Third was #5 Na Pali Spirit who paid $2.60 to show.