Viadera battles to win the Matriarch

Taken from the Bloodhorse, 29th November 2020:

In only her fourth start in North America, Juddmonte Farms homebred Viadera fought to the wire to take home her first top-level victory in the $301,500 Gr.1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar.

It was the first start on the West Coast for Viadera, a four-year-old daughter of Bated Breath previously trained by G M Lyons. Transferred to the barn of Chad Brown in 2020, the bay filly has been building up to her victory with wins in the De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga Race Course and Gr.3 Noble Damsel Stakes at Belmont Park.

Ridden by Joel Rosario in the Matriarch, a one-mile turf race, Viadera was allowed to settle mid-pack after the break and raced just outside the rail. Blowout, under jockey Flavien Prat, held the lead through the first quarter-mile in :22.62 but was soon overtaken by Juliet Foxtrot and Mike Smith, who went three wide to take command at the five-eighths pole.

Once Juliet Foxtrot was on the lead, Smith angled his mount back inside. With a solid lead, the pair clicked off fractions of :45.63 and 1:09.37 through six furlongs.

Blowout, who never fully yielded, pressured Juliet Foxtrot and cut the margin to a half-length at the top of the stretch. Still running in fourth as she exited the final turn, Viadera was tipped out by Rosario and began her rally forward. Blowout and Juliet Foxtrot continued to battle to the finish line, but the pair were blindsided in the final steps by Viadera, who drove straight down the stretch and managed to eke out the win by a nose in 1:33.03 on firm turf.

"Whew. I had to work for that one," Rosario said. "She's a good filly, a really good filly. But she makes you work. I had to stay after her. She can run, though. There's no doubt. I'm lucky that Chad Brown gives me an opportunity like this—grass horses and especially fillies. He's the best."

"This weekend has been amazing," said Jose Hernandez, assistant trainer for Chad Brown. "I didn't know which filly (of the stablemates) was the winner, but I'm happy it turned out to be Viadera. My boss, Chad Brown, is an amazing trainer, and I just do my best for him. It's an amazing job for me, and I love the horses. In the future—I don't know when it would be—if Chad wanted to come out here with a string, I'd like that. We like it out here."

The win marked the third in the Matriarch for Brown. He won it in 2018 with Uni and in 2017 with Off Limits.

Bred in Great Britain, Viadera is out of the Beat Hollow mare Sacred Shield, who has also produced stakes winner Crossed Baton. Viadera made her first nine starts in Europe, where she won the Listed Cairn Rouge Stakes. The filly has a 6-1-1 record from 13 starts with $391,441 in earnings.