10/19/2012 (Stephanie Van Minos/Tom Cooley
Mark Valentine’s Clean Jean is having a remarkable year. Not only has she earned $111,365 the hard way, running mostly in starter allowance races with moderate purses; she has won no fewer than nine races this year – an achievement that leaves her tied for first place nationally for number of races won in 2012.
A 4-year-old daughter of Ecton Park, Clean Jean has recorded victories at Aqueduct and Finger Lakes for three different trainers and shown remarkable versatility in the process.
Top career performance 8/20/2012 (Stephanie Van Minos/Tom Cooley)
Typically a frontrunner, Clean Jean is also ratable and appears capable of winning at virtually any distance. The chestnut filly has recorded victories this year at 4 1/2 furlongs, 6 furlongs, 1 mile, 1 mile and 70 yards and – in arguably her most remarkable performance – at 1 1/8 miles.
Clean Jean’s 12 1/2-length victory at nine panels at Finger Lakes on August 20 is the largest winning margin of her career to date. Her Beyer Speed Figure of 83 was a career best. To cap it all, Clean Jean also placed in a pair of stakes this summer, finishing third in both the Susan B. Anthony in June and Jack Betta Be Rite.
A lightly-raced maiden when she began her 4-year-old campaign this year for owner/breeder Fran Ubbink and trainer John Tebbutt, Clean Jean won back-to-back victories her third and fourth 2012 starts by a combined 14 lengths on the Aqueduct Inner. She was claimed out of the second of these on March 7 for $7,500 by trainer Naipaul Chatterpaul on his own behalf.
In the spring Clean Jean moved her tack up to Finger Lakes where she reeled off three straight victories in April and May. Saddled by Enrique Hernandez for the first pair of starts, the filly was claimed on May 1 by trainer Sal Iorio and Mark Valentine for $4,000. In ten races since the claim Clean Jean has won five more times under regular pilot Dean Frates – most recently last out on October 19 – and finished off the board only twice.
Ubbink, whose farm is located not far from Finger Lakes Racetrack, keeps close tabs on the filly and always tries to make it to the races when Clean Jean is running. Ubbink credits Clean Jean’s success in part to a good rapport with Frates. “Her jockey really knows her well, knows how to settle her down.” Ubbink is also quick to emphasize the filly’s iron-horse quality. “I saw her standing the other day without bandages and her legs are as clean as when she was born.”
Clean Jean has started 18 times this year, with no appreciable time off since early December 2011. The only layoff line in her past performances – a gap of five months from July 2 to December 11, 2011 – was due to a severe corneal tear she suffered in her second career start.
When asked whether she ever expected to be the breeder of a horse that was tied for first in the national rankings, Ubbink said, “No! I’m so proud of her.” Ubbink bred Clean Jean’s winning dam Easter Buddy (Buddy), who has produced another productive runner in Buddy System (Kelly Kip), a multiple winner and $57,337-earner.
It is uncertain as to whether Clean Jean will have the chance to stand solo on top of the rankings of “races won” in 2012. “Sal [Iorio] was thinking about putting her away for the winter,” said Ubbink. “Maybe not now, but I don’t know if anyone will run against her anymore.” The other horse with nine wins this year is Midwest-based Diamond Joe. Ubbink said she has put Diamond Joe in her “Stable Alert.”
