By Jill Williams
There's a pattern. Four times in her career, My Racehorse and Peter Leidel's Seismic Beauty (f, 4, Uncle Mo–Knarsdale, by Medaglia d'Oro) has gone straight to the lead and each time she's won big, but never bigger than she did Saturday in the $400,000 GI Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar. It was the first Grade I victory of her career following her first graded score in the GII Santa Margarita Stakes May 25 at Santa Anita. Saturday's win nets her a 'Win and You're In,' fees-paid berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff later this fall over this surface.
“I think she won the race out of the gate today,” said winning rider Juan Hernandez. “She broke really, really sharp. She loves to be on the lead. She was really comfortable. You know, she was just galloping; she was in a really good rhythm.”
Off at even money, Seismic Beauty went straight to the front and stayed there as two-time Grade I winner Kopion (Omaha Beach) was briefly shuffled to last. The $250,000 Keeneland September buy set fractions of :22.85 and :46.63 and never relinquished her advantage, rounding the final turn with a two-length lead. Two-back GIII Shawnee Stakes shipper Royal Spa (Violence), who served as runner-up last out behind Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) in the GII Fleur de Lis Stakes, tracked throughout, keeping Seismic Beauty in her sights, but weakened in the stretch as Kopion came flying late and Seismic Beauty's GSW & GISP stablemate Richi (Chi) (Practical Joke) inched closer. Seismic Beauty shook loose of everyone, skipping through the stretch three lengths to the best, and finally held off a furiously closing Kopion by 1 1/2 lengths at the line.
“That wasn't an easy lead, they were rolling,” said Hall of Fame conditioner Bob Baffert. “She's a big filly. She looks like she's going easy, but they were going fast. She's just getting better and better. She's still maturing, but I think she'll improve off of that.”
One of three Baffert runners–half the field–in the Hirsch, Seismic Beauty debuted 364 days ago over this very surface, finishing second in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight. She broke her maiden just under four weeks later in her first wire-to-wire attempt and daylight score. Freshened for five months, she returned in February at Santa Anita with two consecutive starts where she didn't make the lead nor the winner's circle. Sent to the front Apr. 18 in her first try at a mile, she wired the field by 10 lengths, then returned in the Santa Margarita for another daylight win and a 104 Beyer Speed Figure. Now riding a three-race win streak, she's sharp as a tack, having worked lights out recently, including a :59 bullet (1/66) going five furlongs July 18 at Del Mar.
Pedigree Notes:
Ashford Stud's late Uncle Mo, who was lost due to a left foreleg injury last December at just 16, is the sire of Seismic Beauty and five dozen other graded winners, as well as 113 black-type winners worldwide. Among his many accomplishments as a sire is victory the last three years running in the Clement L. Hirsch, as he also sired 2023-24 winner Adare Manor. That mare sold to Katsumi Yoshida at last fall's Fasig-Tipton November sale for $2.8 million.
Three of Uncle Mo's stakes winners are out of Medaglia d'Oro mares, with Seismic Beauty the first on that exact cross to win graded events. That still-active 26-year-old Darley sire, who is having yet another banner year in 2025, has 130 stakes winners out of his daughters. The winning Knarsdale, stakes placed at Monmouth in 2019, was a 2020 purchase at Keeneland November by Determined Stud while carrying Seismic Beauty in utero. Her unraced 2-year-old filly, My Steel Magnolia (Essential Quality), was a $225,000 buy at last year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale by LCI. The mare has a yearling full-sister to Seismic Beauty and a Mar. 12-foaled filly by Charlatan. She was bred back to Arabian Knight, a son of Uncle Mo who won the 2023 GI Pacific Classic.
Ruuuumbles home 🎙️
Seismic Beauty dominates in the @BreedersCup Win and You're IN Clement L Hirsch Stakes presented by Oak Tree Racing Association. pic.twitter.com/41yP3FRqSo
— Del Mar Racetrack (@DelMarRacing) August 3, 2025
Saturday, Del Mar
CLEMENT L. HIRSCH S. PRESENTED BY OAK TREE RACING ASSOCIATION-GI, $400,500, Del Mar, 8-2, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:42.33, ft.
1–SEISMIC BEAUTY, 123, f, 4, by Uncle Mo
1st Dam: Knarsdale (SP, $103,692), by Medaglia
d'Oro
2nd Dam: Secret File, by Smart Strike
3rd Dam: Emery Board, by Grindstone
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($400,000 Wlg '21 FTKNOV; $550,000 Ylg
'22 KEESEP). O-MyRacehorse and Peter Leidel; B-2500
Determined Stud (MD); T-Bob Baffert; J-Juan J. Hernandez.
$240,000. Lifetime Record: 7-4-2-1, $476,840. Werk Nick
Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or
the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Kopion, 121, f, 4, by Omaha Beach
1st Dam: Galloping Ami (Outstanding
Broodmare-Can), by Victory Gallop
2nd Dam: Secret Ami, by Secret Claim
3rd Dam: Sybelle Ami, by Alwasmi
($270,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Spendthrift Farm LLC; B-Tall
Oaks Farm (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella. $80,000.
3–Richi (Chi), 123, m, 5, by Practical Joke
1st Dam: Rich Baby (Chi) (MGSP-Chi), by Scat Daddy
2nd Dam: Richwood Royal, by Royal Academy
3rd Dam: Magic Feeling (Ire), by Magical Wonder
O-Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings, Inc. (J. G. Sikura) and Stud
Vendaval, Inc.; B-Haras Paso Nevado (CHI); T-Bob Baffert.
$48,000.
Margins: 1HF, 3HF, 3 1/4. Odds: 1.10, 1.90, 3.50.
Also Ran: Royal Spa, Nothing Like You, Little Hidden Port (Arg). Scratched: Mahina.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
