FIRST LADY STAKES

(Grade 1)

THE four-year-old filly Tepin destroyed 10 rivals by seven lengths in the $400,000 Grade 1 First Lady Stakes. It was her fourth win of the season.

The Bernstein filly came off two tough losses at Saratoga but demolished her opposition here under jockey Julien Leparoux over soft going in the mile turf test.

Tom Dascombe’s Crowley’s Law finished second, while My Miss Sophia, was third. The two Irish fillies Easter and Outstanding were never involved. Outstanding was slowly away for Colm O’Donoghue and ran on in the straight while Easter raced closer to the pace in third but faded in the final two furlongs to finish eighth.

“That’s a nice filly. Today she relaxed beautifully and finished strong. That’s it. It was done very quickly,” Leparoux said of his winner. “There’s going to be more pace in the Breeders’ Cup, but if she runs the way she did today, she fits in there for sure.”

Winning trainer Mark Casse indicated she would probably go to the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Tepin is entered in the Fasig-Tipton November sale but Casse indicated she could stay in training instead.

“I’m not the boss, I just train her – but I think that was just in case something were to happen and we decided to retire her,” he said. “The indication from Mr Masterson is, as long as she is healthy and happy, she’s going to run another year.”