MATRIARCH STAKES

(GRADE 1)

IRISH-breds Off Limits and Hawksmoor travelled west for the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar last Sunday.

Hawksmoor set up shop near the lead while Off Limits moored in the back of the mile turf stakes race.

By the wire, the duo finished a length apart as Off Limits inhaled Hawksmoor late to earn her seventh career victory.

Owned by Martin Schwartz, trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Joel Rosario, the daughter of Masterscraftsman won for the fourth consecutive time, picking up her first Grade 1 stakes race win in her first attempt.

Bred by Carlingford Breeding Syndicate, the five-year-old chesnut mare began her career with David Wachman, winning twice, including the Irish Stallion Farms E.B.F. Cairn Rouge Stakes in 2015.

Off Limits, a €24,000 purchase at Goffs Foals Sale in November, 2012, finished fourth in her American debut against allowance foes at Gulfstream Park in February, 2016. She followed that with four more losses before taking a break from September, 2016 to June, 2017. Since then, she’s won five of six starts, including three graded stakes.