Gun Song Eyes Mother Goose Win After Cotillion Loss

Gun Song nearly took a lot of the juice out of the Breeders’ Cup and the Horse of the Year debate.

The 3-year-old daughter of Gun Runner led in midstretch of the $1 million Cotillion Stakes (G1) Sept. 21 and dug in tenaciously as division leader Thorpedo Anna tried to collar her.

Yet as hard as she fought, Gun Song could not fend off the odds-on favorite as Thorpedo Anna scored by a neck to claim her fourth grade 1 win of the year and remain in the thick of the Horse of the Year chase heading into her Nov. 2 start in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1).

For R. Lee Lewis’ Gun Song, while it did not propel her into the World Championships at Del Mar, it accounted for a $191,000 check and a further indication that the Mark Hennig-trained filly has a bright future as she heads into the $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes (G2) for 3-year-old fillies Oct. 26 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

“That was a huge effort,” Hennig said. “I’ve always felt like she’s got a lot of ability if she puts it all together on the right day. She came close, but ‘Anna’ is tough and found a way. If someone could have just held her inside there a little longer, we might have pulled off a stunner.”

Gun Song went off at 44-1 in the Cotillion, odds that do not properly reflect her 2024 campaign. In eight starts, she has three wins and three seconds. She won the George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) in May and took the Cathryn Sophia Stakes at Parx Racing before becoming grade 1-placed.

“She’s really blossomed. She’s still growing and getting taller and taller,” Hennig said. “I look forward to next year with her. She’ll really mature a lot mentally. She has this year, too, and it’s been fun to watch.”

Bred by Marianne Stribling out of the Mr. Greeley mare Nicole H, Gun Song was bought for $400,000 from the De Meric Sales consignment at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and has earned $674,340.

The field of eight for the 1 1/8-mile Mother Goose also features Godolphin’s Tarifa , who was third in the Cotillion, 3 1/2 lengths behind Gun Song. A homebred daughter of Bernardini, she won the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) for trainer Brad Cox earlier in the year.

Trainer Chad Brown will send out a pair of starters in Three Chimneys Farm’s Pretty Ana , a Quality Road half sister to the farm’s stallion Gun Runner who is making her stakes debut, and Klaravich Stables’ Headline Numbers , a Gun Runner filly making her third start and first in a stakes.

“They are solid horses. It looks like a nice chance to get black type for each of them,” Brown said. “They are both training well. I’m going to put Pretty Ana back on dirt. She came to me to run on turf, but I don’t see it.”

Pretty Ana was shifted from Steve Asmussen’s barn to Brown’s this summer but finished fifth and then third in two turf starts.

The field also includes Repole Stables’ Life Talk , a Gun Runner filly who is coming off a second for trainer Todd Pletcher in the Seneca Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs after a five-month layoff.