The 5-year-old daughter of Hernando (FR) overcame Palmilla with three-sixteenths of a mile remaining in the 1 ½-mile turf race for fillies and mares and carried jockey Julien Leparoux to his third win of the afternoon.
Palmilla, the 3-2 favorite, took the lead on the turn when Tejida tired after setting the pace for more than mile but she couldn’t hold off Herboriste. The time was 2:31.16 on the firm turf.
Herboriste and runner-up Palmilla were separated by 1 ½ lengths at the finish. It was 6 ½ lengths back to third-place Caprice (GER). She was a neck in front of Solva (GB), who traveled from California for the Dowager.
Herboriste had not won since taking a 1 ½-mile allowance race at Keeneland on October 18, 2007. The win improved her record to three wins in 18 starts and increased her career earnings to $285,599.
Northern Bloodstock owns Herboriste. She is trained by Michael Matz. The winner paid $10.40 as the second choice in the betting. Herboriste had finished second, 3 ½ lengths behind Palmilla in the Robert G. Dick Memorial (G3) at 1 3/8 miles on the turf in July at Delaware Park.
“I think the difference was that she (Herboriste) had to make the pace in that race and Palmilla just sat off of us and ran right by her,” said Matz. “Today, she wasn’t so close to the pace.”
