Daddy Is a Legend prepping for return to stakes

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The last time Keeneland fans saw Daddy Is a Legend, the filly was pulling away under Manny Franco to an apparent victory in deep stretch on the turf course when she and suddenly went blasting through the temporary inner rail. Big pieces of PVC plastic were flying every which way.

“It was an eventful race, for sure,” trainer George Weaver recalled of the Valley View Stakes here last October. “Thankfully neither she nor the jockey nor anybody else got hurt. You go from thinking about walking down to the winner’s circle to, ‘Oh no.’ It was pretty scary.”

On Thursday, Daddy Is a Legend will be back at Keeneland, dipping into the allowance ranks for the first time in her distinguished career. Now 4, she figures as a heavy favorite versus eight other fillies and mares in the eighth of nine races. She breaks from post 2 with Ricardo Santana Jr. aboard.

Owned by Jim and Susan Hill, Daddy Is a Legend is using the 1 1/16-mile race as a prep for re-entry into high-level stakes company in the Dec. 1 Matriarch at Del Mar.

“Jim wanted to put the filly in a position to make another run at the Matriarch,” said Weaver, referring to the Grade 1 race in which Daddy Is a Legend finished a fast-closing second last fall following the near-disaster in the Valley View.

Daddy Is a Legend, a Pennsylvania-bred by the late Scat Daddy, is eligible for a share of $66,500 of the purse in the Thursday race because she is not eligible for the $13,500 in Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund bonuses that are part of the $80,000 purse. That’s largely irrelevant to the Hills and Weaver, since they are far more concerned with the bigger picture.

“We could have run her this past weekend at Keeneland, but this race allowed us to get one more work in her,” said Weaver, noting Daddy Is a Legend has not raced since finishing third in the Grade 1 Just a Game on the June 8 Belmont Stakes card. “She’s training very well and we’re excited about having her back.”

After winning a maiden race at Keeneland in October 2017 in her third start, Daddy Is a Legend has competed exclusively in graded turf stakes at a mile or a little longer, winning a pair of Grade 3 events while amassing a bankroll of $433,410. She’s clearly the class of the field in a race that includes Stave and Limari as her top challengers.

First post Thursday is 1:05 p.m. Eastern, with the feature going at 4:57. Sunshine and a high of 69 are in the forecast.