Lady of Fifty Springs 10-1 Surprise in Clement Hirsch

A solid favorite but upset in two important stakes this summer at Betfair Hollywood Park, Lady of Fifty rallied from the clouds at 10-1 under jockey Corey Nakatani to win Saturday’s featured Grade I $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes for older fillies and mares.

Next-to-last of a nine-horse field in the early stages of the mile and one-sixteenth main track affair, Lady of Fifty rallied widest of all entering the stretch and drove to a decisive 1 ½ length victory.

More Chocolate finished well in the stretch to be runner-up, a half-length in front of Byrama, with longshot Great Hot fourth. Include Me Out, the 2012 winner of the Hirsch and an even-money favorite Saturday, faltered in the stretch to be eighth in a disappointing performance.

Lady of Fifty, a four-year-old daughter of After Market owned by George Todaro and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, stepped the distance in 1:42.96 and returned  a generous $23.20, $10.20 and $5.80 after scoring her seventh success in 16 starts. The filly was a 7-10 betting choice in the Everett Handicap May 18, finishing second to Open Water, and then went postward at 8-5 in the Vanity Handicap, winding up third behind Byrama and More Chocolate.

First prize of $180,000 increased Lady of Fifty’s bankroll to $593,000 as well as qualifying the filly for a start in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic in November since the Hirsch Stakes was a “Win and You’re In” event in the Breeders’ Cup’s Challenge Series.

More Chocolate, who was piloted by leading rider Rafael Bejarano, paid $5.60 and $4, while Byrama, with Gary Stevens up, returned $3.80 to show.

John Sadler took firm charge of the top spot in the trainer standings as he sent out three winners – Smokin’ Cat at $12 in the second,  You Know I Know at $23 in the fifth and Ethnic Dance at $5.80 in the tenth and final race. Sadler now has 14 winners, three more than Bob Baffert.

Saturday’s attendance was 25,192.