Choisya overcomes objection, prevails in Jenny Wiley Stakes
?q=100)
On Tuesday at Keeneland, jockey Luis Saez came out on the right side of an ugly homestretch fall during a turf race, missing a couple days with aches and pains, but returning to action on Friday.
On Saturday at Keeneland, Saez came out on the right side of a jockey’s objection in the Jenny Wiley Stakes, and came out of the Grade 1, $650,000 turf contest with a win aboard Dubai shipper Choisya.
Choisya, winning her third start and first at the Grade or Group 1 level, got a great trip under Saez, breaking on top, then settling into the pocket as Kehoe Beach sped off to establish a clear lead racing well off the inside rail.
Kehoe Beach cornered wide into the homestretch and Choisya attacked to her inside, but Kehoe Beach still had life and came back for another run. Meanwhile, Flavien Prat on Excellent Truth, who saved ground throughout the 1 1/16-mile turf race, commenced a serious bid at the three-sixteenths pole, initially drafting right behind Choisya, then steering right to split Choisya and Kehoe Beach. As he did, Choisya came off her line, drifting right a couple paths and impeding Excellent Truth. Prat had to lightly check, losing momentum, then swung back to the inside, finishing well to best Kehoe Beach for second.
The Keeneland stewards posted no inquiry, despite the obvious incident in deep stretch, but Prat lodged an objection that was dismissed with relative alacrity.
“When I came to the top of the stretch, I came out a little bit, but I don’t think I bothered the other horse,” Saez said in a post-race interview with the Keeneland broadcast team.
Choisya won by a half-length, with Excellent Truth a half-length in front of third-place Kehoe Beach. Sacred Wish finished fourth, 1 1/4 lengths behind Kehoe Beach, and was followed by Poolside With Slim, England shipper Jabaara, No Show Sammy Jo, and Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf winner Be Your Best, who never came close to contending. Choisya clocked 1:42.01 over a course rated “good” and paid $15.66.
Trained by Simon Crisford, one-time racing manager for Godolphin, Choisya is a 5-year-old Rabbah Bloodstock homebred by Night of Thunder out of Fragrancy, by Singspiel. She began her career racing on the British winter all-weather circuit in November 2022 and didn’t run in a grass race until her seventh start.
Last August, Choisya finished eighth in her Group stakes debut, the Group 3 Atalanta, but turned into a different horse when Crisford took her to Dubai this winter. Choisya got an easy lead and blasted home to win the Group 2 Cape Verdi in her first start at Meydan Racecourse, and in her second bravely and impressively held off a strong run from Grade 1-winner Cinderella’s Dream, second last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
The key to Choisya, apparently, lies in flat-track, left-handed racing as conducted at Meydan – and in America. Rather than wait and hope the mare could carry her form back to England, Crisford shrewdly sent Choisya to Keeneland, and she picked up her first win at the highest level.
Excellent Truth ran a winning race in her North American debut and first start for Chad Brown, who took over the 5-year-old’s training after John Stewart’s Resolute Racing paid about $1.7 million to acquire the mare at French auction this past December. She finished fastest in a race, despite a quick half-mile split of 46.95, otherwise dominated by the early leader and the horse who chased her, and Excellent Truth might well have won had Prat been able to get through the hole.
Saez, as glad as he was that didn’t happen, had far more appreciation for getting through his Tuesday spill relatively unscathed.
“I just tried to forget what happened three days ago. I’m so glad I’m here, I’m safe, and doing what I love,” he said.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.