Clos de Mesnil 16th Winner for Practical Joke

Practical Joke’s OBS March sale topper Clos de Mesnil (2f Practical Joke x Valiant Emilia, by Pegasus Wind) showed her talent on Sunday when she overcame a troubled stretch run to win by a head.

Racing over six furlongs on the Hanshin dirt, the filly broke quickly to immediately take a pressured lead by a half-length. It wasn’t until the final two furlongs that she started to pull away. The filly made it hard on herself in the final furlong though as she lost her momentum when jumping a shadow on the track.

The filly would have had every excuse to lose to the fast closing second place finisher after her distraction but she dug deep to keep her head in front with the third place runner four lengths back.

Trained by Hideyuki Mori, the Susumu Fujita-owned filly was bred by Teneri Farm in Kentucky.

Clos de Mesnil made her first headlines when she sold to Mori from the Top Line Sales consignment for $750,000 at the OBS March 2-Year-Old Sale as the sale topper.

The filly is out of Peruvian champion Valiant Emilia, who is now the dam of two winners from two to race. She comes from the same family as Thunder Gulch’s Group III winner and Group I-producer Thundering Emilia, who produced Grade I winner Emilia’s Moon and Grade II winner Helium. The family also includes another champion in Domingo under her fourth dam.

Valiant Emilia visited Practical Joke again this year to have a full sibling to the winner next year.

Clos de Mesnil’s victory takes her sire’s record to two winners from two Japanese starters and 16 winners overall.