Uni won't stop Daddy Is a Legend this time in Del Mar's Matriarch

Trainer George Weaver conditioned his statement upon having great respect for the likes of Got Stormy and Toinette. But as his barn prepares Daddy Is a Legend for a return to stakes company in Sunday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Matriarch, he says, “I’d rather run against them than Uni.”

This time last year, Chad Brown-trained Uni nipped Daddy Is a Legend by a half length in Del Mar’s closing day feature for fillies and mares on the turf. That rival went on to reach a higher peak this season, beating the boys most recently in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita Park.

“She just got nipped in this race last year,” Weaver said of his 5-year-old mare, “so we’re going to go over there and try it again.”

Daddy Is a Legend, a Pennsylvania-bred daughter of More Than Ready, returned from a layoff of more than four months on Oct. 24 at Keeneland, winning the afternoon’s featured allowance race with ease in what was her first race outside graded company since breaking her maiden.

During that streak of 10 straight stakes starts, Daddy Is a Legend won twice and only once finished worse than fourth, when she was forced inside and broke through Keeneland’s safety rail in the 2018 Valley View (G3).

“She’s just a good horse. That’s what good horses do,” Weaver said of the consistent record. “She doesn’t have any huge vices. She always goes over there and gives 100% of what she has.”

Daddy Is a Legend, owned by Jim and Susan Hill, also offers a turn of foot that her trainer insists makes the Matriarch’s mile distance ideal.

“When you mash on the gas, she accelerates quickly,” Weaver said. “The higher up you go in class in turf races, that becomes an increasingly valuable asset.”

Entries will be taken Thursday for the Matriarch, with the Brown contender to beat this time Significant Form, who has won three of her last four, all in New York. Got Stormy, meanwhile, took the Fourstardave (G1) last summer, while Toinette is the top local hope who galloped to win Santa Anita’s Goldikova (G2) back on Nov. 3.

Daddy Is a Legend warmed up for the Matriarch with a half-mile breeze Sunday in 49 seconds at Del Mar.

“She actually spent a few weeks there last year and did well off that,” Weaver said. “There’s not a lot of horses on the ground at Del Mar, so we wanted to get her in there. It’s a nice place to train this time of year.

“…I sincerely think that with the right trip, we’re very capable of beating (Got Stormy and Toinette) and anyone else that’s in there.”