Amoss closes out race week with exciting debut winner Hoosier Philly

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A red-hot Tom Amoss closed out the latest week of racing at Churchill by winning the race-10 finale Sunday with first-time starter Hoosier Philly, a 2-year-old filly who was hammered down to even money as if she were already standing in the winner’s circle.

Hoosier Philly ($4.14) got a 75 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the 5 1/2-furlong race in 1:04.35 under Edgar Morales. The daughter of uber-sire Into Mischief waited not far off a swift early pace before surging to a 1 3/4-length triumph that seems to portend very good things for the future.

“The international good thing,” laughed Amoss, whose five winners through the first nine days of the September meet included Curly Jack in the Grade 3 Iroquois and Sixtythreecaliber in the Seneca.

“Look, we think a lot of this filly,” he said. “She’d prepared very, very well for the race. We knew going in that the distance probably was a little short, but we thought that with her talent we’d be okay. The best part of her race obviously was the last part, the way she finished up. We’re looking forward to more,” adding he was unsure whether he would jump her straight into stakes competition for her next start.

Hoosier Philly, owned by Gold Standard Racing Stable, is unusually colored. She’s listed as gray/roan, but she’s more like a light reddish-gray roan more typical for a Quarter horse. “Very unusual,” said Amoss.

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Amoss had nothing but praise for Morales, the 24-year-old Puerto Rico native who is enjoying perhaps the best span of a U.S. riding career that began in October 2017. Into the final five days of the meet, Morales was just one winner (9-8) behind Gaffalione, the perennial leading jockey, atop the local standings.

“He’s having a heck of a meet,” said Amoss. “He’s a great young rider.”

Echoes of a bygone era

Perhaps only old-timers and/or historians will know the significance of the name of a 2-year-old making his first career start Thursday evening in the sixth race at Churchill.

Devils Red, trained by Doug O’Neill, is a More Than Ready colt bred and owned by Calumet Farm. His jockey, Gerardo Corrales, will be wearing the black and gold silks that now represent the 762-acre Lexington farm owned by tobacco magnate Brad Kelley, but it wasn’t always that way.

In its heyday, Calumet was synonymous with the “devils red and blue” silks worn by jockeys such as Eddie Arcaro and Bill Hartack in winning the Kentucky Derby a record eight times as owner (and 10 times as breeder). It was some time after the farm was sold by the Wright family that the colors of the silks were changed, but devils red will forever be closely affiliated with the Calumet dynasty.

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