Pauline's Pearl

Pauline’s Pearl needed three starts to earn her first career win, drawing clear to win by 3 ½ lengths Feb. 12, 2021, on a sloppy main track at Fair Grounds. Trainer Steve Asmussen next tested her against graded stakes competition in the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes and she rallied from sixth to finish second in her stakes debut, beaten by three-quarters of a length by Will’s Secret.

In her final prep race for the Longines Kentucky Oaks, Pauline’s Pearl was sent off as the odds-on favorite for the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes April 3 at Oaklawn Park, where she wore down pacesetter Ava’s Grace in deep stretch to prevail and punch her ticket to Louisville.

Pauline’s Pearl finished eighth as a longshot in the Kentucky Oaks but rebounded to hit the board in three Grade 3 stakes and then won the listed Zia Park Oaks to close out 2021. She returned as a 4-year-old in 2022 and started with a 3 ¾-length win in the Houston Ladies Classic Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park on Jan. 30.

Pauline’s Pearl next finished second to 2021 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Ce Ce in the Grade 2 Azeri Stakes March 12 at Oaklawn Park before earning a breakthrough Grade 1 win in the Grade La Troienne Stakes presented by Signify Health on the May 6 Longines Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs. Pauline’s Pearl rallied gamely through the Churchill stretch and caught Shedaresthedevil in the closing strides of the La Troienne for a determined victory.  Based on that top-level win, she was sent off as the 2-5 favorite against a small field in the Shawnee Stakes at Churchill on June 4, a prep for the Fleur de Lis Stakes under the Twin Spires on July 2. She finished fourth of five runners in a perplexing effort.

Pauline’s Pearl finished third in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Stakes July 2 at Churchill Downs in what turned out to be the final start of her 4-year-old campaign.

Returning from a layoff of more than 6 ½ months, Pauline’s Pearl stalked the pace and edged clear late to post a repeat win in the Houston Ladies Classic, prevailing by 1 ¾ lengths Jan. 28, 2023, at Sam Houston Race Park.

Following back-to-back Grade 1 losses in the Beholder Mile at Santa Anita on March 11 and in the La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 5, Pauline's Pearl went to Ellis Park in her next start for the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Stakes, which was relocated from its usual home Churchill Downs for the 2023 running. In what turned out to be only a three-horse field in the Fleur de Lis, Pauline's Pearl sat last in the compact field into the through the stretch run, where she came with a grinding move from behind to get up in time to win by three-quarters of a length in a time of 1:49.59 for the 1 1/8 miles.

A gray or roan filly by leading sire Tapit, Pauline’s Pearl is out of Grade 1 winner Hot Dixie Chick, by Dixie Union.