5YO Kicks Off Friday’s Stakes Program with Popular Victory

BALTIMORE – Omar Aldabbagh and Jeff Ganje’s Grade 3 winner Shotgun Hottie, winless in her first three starts this year, broke through with a popular and decisive 5 ¾-length triumph in Friday’s listed $100,000 Allaire du Pont Distaff at historic Pimlico Race Course.

The 31st running of the 1 1/8-mile Allaire du Pont for fillies and mares 3 and up was the first of six stakes, three graded, worth $1 million in purses on a spectacular 14-race Black-Eyed Susan (G2) Day program headlined by the 100th edition of the nine-furlong fixture for 3-year-old fillies.

Ridden by Paco Lopez for trainer Cherie DeVaux, Shotgun Hottie ($3.60) completed the distance in 1:49.60 over a fast main track for her sixth career win, fourth in a stakes and first since capturing the 1 1/16-mile Molly Pitcher (G3) last July in her season finale.

Breaking from the outermost post as the 4-5 favorite, Shotgun Hottie was content to sit third while 13-1 long shot Lacie Be Good put up fractions of 24.57 and 48.60 seconds pressed to her outside by Musical Mischief. Musical Mischief took over the top spot midway around the turn but was followed closely by Shotgun Hottie as the two hooked up at the top of the stretch before the winner steadily pulled away.

Musical Mischief was a clear second, 3 ¼ lengths ahead of Queen of Missoula, who edged Julia Shining by a neck for third. They were followed by Lacie Be Good, Western Lane and Intrepid Dream. Cats Inthe Timber was scratched.

The du Pont honors the late avid sportswoman and horsewoman best known as the owner of Hall of Famer Kelso, the unprecedented and unsurpassed winner of five consecutive Horse of the Year championships from 1960-64.

Allaire du Pont Distaff Quotes

Winning trainer Cherie DeVaux (Shotgun Hottie): “Very impressive. Just really pleased for the outcome. She's faced a lot of formidable competition in her last couple of races. This was a step down as far as from a Grade 1, but it's a steppingstone to get to the Molly Pitcher (On the Haskell undercard at Monmouth Park). She's a big ol' filly and she seems to run herself into form. So it takes a few races for her to be at her best, and that's what we're hoping for the summer.”

(on an ideal spot right behind the speed in third): “Paco does a great job in getting her to relax. In a couple of her races, she's had a hard time. She comes out of the gate, and she has a tendency to grab the bit and want to do too much coming to the first turn. She's a big filly and you can't stop her and get her going again. So, it's really important to get her to relax behind the speed or on the outside. Paco does a great job to do that. He has really good hands and sits quietly on horses. For her, I think that's the key for what makes her run the way she did for him.

Winning Jockey Paco Lopez (Shotgun Hottie): “She had plenty, that filly today. She ran a big one. Cherie has done so well with that filly.”

"She finished well. That filly is better than she was last year.”