Defining Purpose gets first run to spring upset in Ashland Stakes
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Defining Purpose defined herself as a candidate for the Kentucky Oaks with a game half-length victory over Punchbowl and Julia Shining in the Grade 1, $600,000 Ashland Stakes, returning $42.68 for her upset score in the opening-day feature Friday at Keeneland.
Off a victory in one of the final major prep races, Defining Purpose will surely not be quite as long a price in the filly classic, a race Kentucky-based trainer Kenny McPeek has long chased.
"I've been second three times, which is a little frustrating," McPeek said. "But you can't hit anything if you're not in it."
The Ashland upset had major implications on the points leaderboard toward a spot in the 14-horse Oaks starting gate on May 5 at Churchill Downs. The race awarded points on a 100-40-30-20-10 scale to its top five finishers – Defining Purpose, Punchbowl, Julia Shining, Guns n' Graces, and Effortlesslyelgant.
Following the race, Defining Purpose is assured a spot in the Oaks if all goes well in the coming weeks, but the status of others will be less certain. Eclipse Award champion Wonder Wheel, returning to the site of her Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies victory, was a dull sixth of seven Friday and earned no points. She currently sits 12th on the leaderboard with 48 total points as a high cutoff mark looms. Saturday's Grade 2, $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks and Grade 3, $250,000 Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct both award points 100-40-30-20-10, making them a virtual certainty to shake up the leaderboard.
Punchbowl, making her stakes debut after winning her first two starts, is now 16th on the leaderboard, while Julia Shining, winner of the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes last fall, is 14th. Trainer Brad Cox said Punchbowl will head to his Churchill Downs base, and he will be sure the lightly raced filly emerged from the Ashland in good order.
“We’ll see,” Cox said. “Big race today. We’ve done a lot with her in a short period of time.”
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Meanwhile, Todd Pletcher seemed ready to move on to the Oaks with Julia Shining, who wore blinkers for the first time Friday.
“We got some improved early position with the addition of the blinkers. [Jockey Luis Saez] said she was still kind of figuring things out down the lane,” Pletcher said. “Finished with good energy, but I still feel like she’s kind of putting it all together. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of her yet.”
Defining Purpose, a daughter of Cross Traffic, was bred in Kentucky by Colette Marie VanMatre, who now races the filly in partnership with the McPeek family's Magdalena Racing and James Ball.
"This filly's a rags to riches story," McPeek said, pointing out that the filly was a $14,000 buyback as a short yearling at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale. "Colette sent her to me . . . and she asked me if I could help her find some partners, and I've got a long list of really great people that I train for."
Defining Purpose won twice from four starts last year as a juvenile, winning her maiden at second asking at Churchill Downs and later winning the Year's End Stakes at Oaklawn. She finished third behind the streaking Wet Paint in January at Oaklawn, and then was sixth behind that foe in the Grade 3 Honeybee.
"She caught some sloppy tracks, and I think she fell off a little bit, and maybe got a little tired," McPeek said. "I think the spacing we did with her” helped.
In the Ashland, her first start since the Honeybee on Feb. 25, Defining Purpose was forwardly placed early under Brian Hernandez Jr., sitting in third and alongside post-time favorite Punchbowl. A length or so ahead, Effortlesslyelgant, the longest shot on the board, was taking the field through opening fractions of 23.62 seconds for the quarter and 47.25 for the half.
Her early position “was great,” Hernandez said. “When she went around the first turn and got her position so nice and smoothly and settled into a nice rhythm, going down the backside I was just thinking to myself, ‘Be patient, just wait and wait and let her travel well.’ ”
When Hernandez asked for more, Defining Purpose got first run around the turn, drawing to the throatlatch of Effortlesslyelgant through six furlongs in 1:11.64, with Julia Shining revving up into third alongside Punchbowl. Defining Purpose kicked away to lead by 1 1/2 lengths in the stretch as the leader faded, but had to work for it in the final strides as Punchbowl, between horses, kept coming late and Julia Shining found her best foot on the outside. At the wire of the short stretch, it was Defining Purpose by a half length, with Punchbowl grabbing second by a neck over Julia Shining.
“Unfortunately, she had to wait to get out,” jockey Flavien Prat said of Punchbowl. “I couldn’t go by the winner. She made a good run.”
The final time for the 1 1/16 miles on the fast main track on a cool but dry spring day was 1:43.31.
After Julia Shining, it was 3 1/4 lengths back to Guns n' Graces and Effortlesslyelgant, followed by Wonder Wheel, who was beaten just more than 5 1/2 lengths in her second start of the year. She had been second in the Suncoast Stakes in February at Tampa, a race in which Julia Shining was third.
“She broke well and put herself in a good spot. It just wasn’t her day,” jockey Tyler Gaffalione said of Wonder Wheel.
Pride of the Nile, who was extremely fractious in the paddock, was last, more than 30 lengths behind Wonder Wheel.
McPeek now turns his attention to Saturday's action at Keeneland, as he will saddle Hayes Strike, Mendelssohns March, and Sun Thunder in the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes, a major prep toward the Kentucky Derby.
McPeek is the most recent of six trainers to have swept the Ashland and Blue Grass in the same year, as he sent out Take Charge Lady and Harlan’s Holiday, respectively, in 2002. Should he pull off the win Saturday, he would be the first trainer to accomplish the feat twice. The legendary Ben Jones was the first trainer to accomplish the double, with future Hall of Famers Coaltown and Bewitch in 1948. Following him were Woody Stephens with Halt and Tall Weeds in 1949; George Poole with Impetuosity and You All in 1971; LeRoy Jolley with Honest Pleasure and Optimistic Gal in 1976; and D. Wayne Lukas with War and Chic Shirine in 1987.
“I’ve got three chances tomorrow,” McPeek grinned.
All he needed Friday was one.
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