Princess Warrior rallies to upset in Churchill's Mrs. Revere

Princess Warrior, a name from the 3-year-old series of races for fillies on dirt, has carved a new niche for herself on the turf. On Friday, that led to her first career stakes score in Churchill Downs’ Grade 2, $200,000 Mrs. Revere.

The Kenny McPeek-trained daughter of Midshipman rallied on the outside over yielding turf to complete 1 1/16 miles in 1:47.61 under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr.

"Well, we took her off the dirt after the summer," McPeek said. "She fell off form on us bad, and we felt like she was mostly in heat. It seemed like it was more of a female issue. Then when we've gotten her of the turf, she's a different horse."

Cool Beans lead until deep stretch, setting fractions of 24.43, 50.01 and 1:15.83 before tiring to finish third. Get Explicit made a late run for second but ran out of time to catch the winner.

"We were really confident in her today," Hernandez Jr. said. "Just kind of got her in a good path out there, let her get in her rhythm, and he was just able to out-grind them." 

Princess Warrior was off at 11-1, with her and the rest of the field the beneficiary of a poor trip for odds-on favorite Stella di Camelot. The recent Chad Brown acquisition was hit leaving the gate, rushed up for position and never quite looked comfortable in her second U.S. start.

Campaigned by Evan, Matthew and Andrew Trommer, Princess Warrior won her third race in 14 career starts. She entered Grade 1-placed via her runner-up in last year’s Alcibiades at Keeneland and also finished third in this year’s Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2).

McPeek, who won Santa Anita's American Oaks (G1) with another dirt-to-turf runner, Daddys Lil Darling, said he'd like to go back with Princess Warrior.

"We'd like to make that trip to California," he said, "and maybe it's as successful as last year."