Beautiful Trauma poised to make impact in Broussard Stakes
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Easily the high point of Lady Apple’s 2020 campaign was a victory in the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic in January, and you can bet her connections have their eye on a repeat score in the 2021 renewal of that race when Lady Apple makes her first start in three months Saturday in the $75,000 Joseph E. “Spanky” Broussard Stakes at Fair Grounds.
Beautiful Trauma’s connections have a more modest and immediate goal in the Broussard, a mile and 70-yard race for fillies and mares.
“We’re looking for black type,” trainer Tom Amoss said.
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Beautiful Trauma’s high point last winter was a 16-length first-level allowance win over a sloppy track at Fair Grounds last Dec. 21. The filly sustained an injury and didn’t race again until October, when she got into an intemperate pace battle and finished fourth in an optional claimer at Keeneland. That race set her up for a 4 1/4-length front-running score going a one-turn mile in a second-level optional claimer last month at Churchill Downs.
“She went way too fast first race back from her layoff, and that was not the plan,” said Amoss. “I didn’t have her geared up to do that.”
Beautiful Trauma has failed to change leads in both her recent starts, but drew away at Churchill despite that.
“They jockey said she was going so well he didn’t want to mess her up by forcing it,” Amoss said. “She does fine in practice.”
Beautiful Trauma didn’t work last weekend because Amoss would have run the filly in the Blushing K.D. Stakes had the race been rained off turf. It wasn’t, and the Broussard became the goal.
Lady Apple, trained by Steve Asmussen, has raced five times since the Houston Ladies Classic, with her best result a third in the Obeah Stakes at Delaware Park in June. She comes off a fourth over yielding turf in the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf on Sept. 12.
Whoa Nellie is an obvious contender from the rail, though she and everyone else will be tasked with running down speedy Beautiful Trauma. Whoa Nellie improved sharply early in 2020, winning the Pippin at Oaklawn Park and finishing a close second there in the Grade 3 Bayakoa. She didn’t race between February and Nov. 21, and returned with a solid third-place finish in the one-turn-mile Chilukki Stakes at Churchill for trainer Larry Jones.