Michael Lund Petersen’s Kentucky-bred Adare Manor notched a determined victory in the $400,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes (G1) at Del Mar on Saturday, Aug. 5, earning a berth in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1). It was the third consecutive graded stakes score for Adare Manor and first Grade 1 for the Bob Baffert trainee.

Ridden by Juan Hernandez, the 4-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo stalked the early pace set by fellow Kentucky-bred Elm Drive in the 1 1/16-mile fixture. Hernandez put Adare Manor to a solid drive past the five-sixteenths marker and overtook Elm Drive near the sixteenth-pole. Once she hit the front, Adare Manor held at bay a late rally from Desert Dawn to score by a length in the end, covering the distance in 1:43.33 as the odds-on favorite. In capturing the initial Grade 1 race of her career, Adare Manor increased her earnings total to $861,600 and improved her record to 12-6-4-0.

Bred in Kentucky by Town and Country Horse Farms and Gary Broad, Adare Manor is produced from the Giant Gizmo mare Brooklynsway. She was a $375,000 graduate of the OBS June Sale in 2021 where she was consigned by Julie Davies.

“I was hoping to be on an easy lead. I knew the one (Elm Drive) is a really fast filly; you want to stay close to her,” said Baffert. “Sort of took our filly out of her game a little bit. He had to keep riding her the whole way but, at the end, she’s a big, long-jumping filly and she just got going there at the end. We’re happy with the win; we got a Grade 1.”

The Clement Hirsch victory was the fourth straight for Adare Manor—three of them in graded events. She captured the Santa Margarita S. (G2) in her previous start and the Santa Maria S. (G2) before that, both in front-running fashion at Santa Anita. Adare Manor finished second in the Black-Eyed Susan S. (G2) at Pimlico last May at three and was runner-up, beaten just a neck by Desert Dawn in that year’s Santa Anita Oaks (G2) in April. She was a 13-length winner of last year’s Las Virgenes S. (G3).