Mixed Up, the prohibitive favorite in the Flatterer Steeplechase Handicap, made short work of his competition in the $50,000 Pennsylvania-bred hurdle, July 29. The restricted race, run over the Philadelphia Park racecourse, Bensalem, Pa., drew an odd assortment of homestate horses at various stages in their hurdle careers.

Due to his Grade II novice stakes win in the 2005 Radnor Hunt Cup (Pa.) and several subsequent graded-stakes placings, Mixed Up was an easy bet. Ridden by the sport’s top female jockey and regular partner, Danielle Hodsdon, the son of Carnivalay was coming off a May win in the Grade II Marcellus Frost hurdle (Tenn.).

Bred by Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard and William Pape, Sheppard’s longtime owner and breeding partner, it was kismet that Mixed Up win the race named after that same partnership’s most successful homebred, Flatterer. Pape and Sheppard campaigned Flatterer in the mid-80s, and the four-time Eclipse Award winner is a legendary American steeplechaser.

Of the six entries, there were two maidens, Stall Swapper (Tom Foley) and Legend’s Silver (Jody Petty). Luongo (Xavier Aizpuru), trained by Jack Fisher, hadn’t won a race since 2005, and Janet Elliot-trainee, Professor Maxwell (Robert Walsh), was making his first start of 2006. Then there was the exciting Dark Equation (Matt McCarron), a Doug Fout allowance hurdler who had just won his hurdle debut with daring and panache at Colonial Downs (Va.), July 2. The horse’s solid stakes-placed flat record helped explain his thorough professionalism and made him the obvious threat.

Being the favorite can be a nerve-wracking proposition. Hodsdon, who knows exactly what her horse needs to run well, was unsure what to expect in a race that had such mixed variables. Although she knew the 21�16 miles suited her quick running horse, she wasn’t sure who would be the speed in the race.

“He has to settle behind a certain pace, so he’s moving along enough to be happy,” she said. “I was really nervous before this race because it was hard to foresee what was going to happen. There were quite a few inexperienced horses, which might have slowed the pace down. Mr. Sheppard told me that if the pace wasn’t there, then I could let him go on, because he didn’t want a fight.”

Hodsdon learned a lot about Mixed Up at April’s Georgia Cup grade II hurdle stakes. After injuring his ankle in last year’s Flatterer, where the bay finished third, beaten by 35 lengths, Mixed Up had six months off. The Georgia Cup was his first scheduled hurdle race back, but hard spring ground had forced Sheppard to skip a much-needed flat race prep. He went to Atlanta with a wound-up race horse, and Mixed Up ran second, largely due to misplaced energy.

“He was very difficult that day,” Hodsdon said. “He was freezing and threatening to flip over in the paddock, and during the race he just ran through his spots; he fought me the whole way.”

Sheppard had Mixed Up right on course for this year’s Flatterer. He prepped him with a Saratoga Open House (N.Y.) flat spin, just six days before, where the 15.2-hand gelding finished second.

Hodsdon said despite concerns with the miserable heat–a steamy 98 degrees–and concerns about the high weight of 158 pounds (a handicap of 12 pounds), the race set up absoulutely perfectly. Mixed Up was confident, relaxed and professional and won with the classy ease of a legitimate favorite.

The Frank Zurich-trained Stall Swapper, a two-start maiden, went to the front and set what Hodsdon described as a sensible pace–controlled, yet quick enough for Hodsdon to settle Mixed Up into a comfortable third, just behind Luongo. He was so settled that Hodsdon said this was the best jumping trip she’s had on him.

Luongo dropped out of contention after about 1 1/2 miles, so Hodsdon just waited patiently, like a cat waiting on a mouse. “We tracked Foley, and I could see before we turned for home that he was getting after his horse while I was just cruising,” she said. Once Hodsdon knew she could run Foley down at will, she said her only concern was Dark Equation. She expected a late run from the horse, so she made sure she got the jump on him at the last of the nine fences.

After running well within himself and hurdling with efficiency, Mixed Up responded with an easy sprint to the finish when Hodsdon pushed the go button. He won by 2 lengths, repelling McCarron’s late charge with restrained ease. Stall Swapper finished third, and it was a long way back to fourth-placed Luongo.

The Flatterer Handicap was one of six races at Philadelphia Park’s Pennsylvania’s Day at the Races, designed to showcase Pennsylvania-bred horses.