Bonny South looks sharp for Ashland

There will be a divisional leader and there will be a filly trained by Ken McPeek in a compelling renewal of the Grade 1, $400,000 Ashland Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland. They just won’t be the same filly.

With three-time graded stakes winner Swiss Skydiver, far and away the leader in the point standings used to determine the field for the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks, opting to challenge the boys in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday, there is a scratch-reduced but solid field of five left for the Ashland, which awards Oaks points to the top finishers on a 100-40-20-10 scale. Bonny South, second on the points leaderboard by virtue of her victory in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks, is joined by fellow graded stakes winners Venetian Harbor; the graded stakes-placed runners Speech and Alta’s Award; and Envoutante, making her graded debut for McPeek without her stablemate Swiss Skydiver looming over her. Grade 2 winner Tonalist's Shape was also entered, but trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. told Daily Racing Form on Friday that the filly will scratch from the Ashland to await the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.

Bonny South has won three of her four starts – one via a disqualification – with all of those wins coming at distances beyond a mile. In the Fair Grounds Oaks on March 21, the filly was sixth after six furlongs, made a six-wide move at the quarter pole under Florent Geroux, and struck the lead at midstretch to win by 2 1/4 lengths going away.

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“All I know is that I don’t think she likes to be rushed early,” trainer Brad Cox has said of Bonny South. “This filly has just stepped up immensely.”

Bonny South has worked steadily at Keeneland toward her first start in more than three months and has been sharp in recent moves, firing a bullet five furlongs on June 27, followed by another sharp five furlongs July 4 that was the second-fastest of the morning. With Geroux in New York on Saturday for his regular ride on Monomoy Girl – Cox’s 2018 Ashland and Kentucky Oaks winner – John Velazquez picks up the mount on Bonny South.

Venetian Harbor could be a formidable target for Bonny South to run down. Venetian Harbor, a 9 1/4-length winner of the Grade 2 Las Virgenes at Santa Anita for trainer Richard Baltas, finished second to Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes in early May at Oaklawn, beaten 2 1/2 lengths after showing the way.

Venetian Harbor, who has been installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite, is ideally drawn to utilize her speed in post 2. Joel Rosario will be aboard the filly for the first time since her 10 3/4-length maiden score last December.

Speech had been entered in Friday’s Grade 3 Beaumont Stakes at seven furlongs, but is running in the Ashland with Swiss Skydiver having defected for the Blue Grass. Speech was second to Donna Veloce in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel at Santa Anita; second by a neck to subsequent Grade 1 winner Gamine in an Oaklawn allowance; and second to Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks. All three of those races were at the Ashland distance of 1 1/16 miles.

“My filly just shows up and runs hard every time,” trainer Mike McCarthy said of Speech. “There’s a graded race out there, or a couple graded races out there, with her name on them.”

Speech, the 2-1 second choice on the morning line under Javier Castellano, earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 97 in her Oaklawn effort, the best figure in this field. The only other entrant to surpass the 90 ceiling is Venetian Harbor.

Envoutante is coming off a 2 1/4-length allowance win going two turns at Churchill Downs. Her only unplaced effort in five career starts came in her lone stakes outing, when fourth in the Honey Ryder on the Gulfstream turf.

“This is a really good filly in her own right,” McPeek said last week. “Her last race was ultra impressive. . . . Her and Swiss Skydiver work regularly together. There’s not a big split between the two, and I think if she runs her best race, she’s right in the thick of it.”

Completing the field is Alta’s Award, a close second in the Grade 3 Honeybee at Oaklawn before finishing fourth in the Fantasy there. Honeybee winner Shedaresthedevil came back to win Wednesday’s Grade 3 Indiana Oaks.

Speech and Venetian Harbor are eighth, and 10th, respectively, on the points leaderboard toward the Oaks, which is limited to 14 starters. A solid performance would virtually secure a spot in the field. Alta’s Award sits 14th on the leaderboard.