Kehoe Beach came into the Nov. 29 Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2T) at Churchill Downs off a pair of consecutive wins captured by a combined 14 lengths and exited with her first black-type victory.
The front-running 3-year-old daughter of Omaha Beach won the $292,335 1 1/16-mile turf race for sophomore fillies gate to wire for owner Thomas Bachman and trainer Wesley Ward. The newly minted graded stakes winner was ridden by Frankie Dettori, who guided the even-money favorite through modest early fractions of :24.35, :48.57, and 1:12.49. At the top the stretch, Kehoe Beach had a one-length advantage and never gave it up, winning by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:42.45.
Resolute Racing's Pounce, a multiple grade 3-winning daughter of Lookin At Lucky, stalked Kehoe Beach throughout and held off a late charge by Poolside With Slim to finish second by a head. French challenger Minoushka, making her second start in the United States, was another head back in fourth.
"She's a super filly," Dettori said. "She's strong but has pace and is very sensible. She knows exactly how to race, which makes it a push-button ride for me. When I pushed that button she showed a great turn of foot like she did last time. Wesley was full of confidence going into the race. He even made me stay here in the cold to ride her, and I wasn't going to say no."
Ward said the filly has really come to hand since the summer. She broke her maiden on the main track at Keeneland in April, winning by 6 1/2 lengths in a sloppy 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight. She then went unplaced in a six-furlong allowance race at Saratoga Race Course and was second by a head going 1 1/16 miles at Ellis Park in her first start on the grass. The turf suited Kehoe Beach and she followed with an 8 1/2-length win going seven furlongs at Kentucky Downs and then a 5 1/2-length win going a mile at Keeneland.
"She's such a big, powerful filly. Now we'll give her a break and then get her ready for the spring," Ward said, noting that he would likely aim her for the Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) at the same distance in April at Keeneland.
Bachman bought Kehoe Beach for $450,000 under the name Fairview during the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment. John Bates, Ron Kirk, and Michael Riordan bred the filly out of the Street Cry daughter Sweet Awakening. Kehoe Beach is now the mare's third stakes winner with the others including multiple graded stakes winner and 2015-16 Canadian champion older horse Are You Kidding Me (Run Away and Hide); and, grade 3-placed stakes winner Core Values (Honor Code).
Kehoe Beach is the fourth graded stakes winner worldwide sired by Spendthrift Farm's leading second-crop sire Omaha Beach, who leads his sire class by progeny earnings ($9.3 million), number of black-type stakes winners (11), and number of black-type performers (27). The Mrs. Revere victory makes him the leader by number of Northern Hemisphere graded stakes winners as well with three.
