Livin the Dream Racing’s Dream Empress rallied from off the pace and drew off to an authoritative 4 ¼-length victory over Be Smart to win the 57th running of the $500,000 Darley Alcibiades (G1) for two-year-old fillies to highlight the opening day of the 17-day Keeneland fall meeting.
Also securing a Grade 1 victory before a crowd of 15,388 was Augustin Stable’s Forever Together, who ran down pace-setting favorite Precious Kitten to win the 11th running of the $400,000 First Lady for older fillies and mares on the turf.
Ridden by Robby Albarado, Dream Empress bided her time off the pace as Be Smart and favored Mani Bhavan raced through early fractions of :23.19, :47.13 and 1:10.88 in the 1 1/16-mile race on the main track. Albarado, who had saved ground in the run down the backstretch, angled Dream Empress out to the middle of the track for clear sailing at the head of the stretch and pulled away from Be Smart as Mani Bhavan faded to last in the field of seven.
Trained by Ken McPeek, Dream Empress rewarded her backers with mutuels of $6.80, $3.40 and $2.80. A $60,000 Keeneland 2007 September Sale purchase, Dream Empress covered the distance in 1:43.82, the fastest time in three runnings of the Darley Alcibiades over the Polytrack surface.
A Kentucky-bred daughter of Bernstein out of the Nijinsky II mare Chinese Empress, Dream Empress improved her career earnings to $348,850 with her second win in three starts and a $310,000 payday. The victory in the race that was part of the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge also earned Dream Empress a spot in the starting gate for the $2 million Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) to be run October 24 at Santa Anita.
For McPeek, the victory was his third in the Alcibiades. His previous winners were She’s A Devil Due in 2000 and Take Charge Lady in 2001.
Be Smart, ridden by Garrett Gomez, returned $4.60 and $4.60 and finished 3 ¼ lengths ahead of Devotee, who paid $6 to show under Eibar Coa.
In the First Lady, Precious Kitten and champion Dreaming of Anna led the field of seven through fractions of :23.93, :47.80 and 1:11.34 over a firm turf course as Julien Leparoux waited patiently on Forever Together.
At the three-eighths pole, Forever Together kicked into high gear to collar Precious Kitten inside the eighth pole and complete the distance in 1:35. It marked the first time the First Lady had been run at a mile and the second time Leparoux won the race, having scored previously with Gorella (FR) in 2006.
Trained by Jonathan Sheppard, Forever Together ran her career record to six wins in 13 starts with three of those victories coming on the turf in five starts. The $248,000 winner’s check boosted her earnings to $854,333.
A four-year-old daughter of Belong to Me out of the Relaunch mare Constant Companion, Forever Together returned mutuels of $7, $4 and $2.40. Precious Kitten, ridden by Rafael Bejarano, returned $3.20 and $2.10. Rutherienne, who finished two lengths back in third under Garrett Gomez, returned $3 to show.
Forever Together is a graduate of Keeneland’s 2004 November Breeding Stock Sale and 2005 September Yearling Sale.