Filly flaunts talent with rare first-out win for Wilkes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Street Sense didn’t win first time out. Neither did Fort Larned and a bunch of other good horses Ian Wilkes has worked with.

So, when a 3-year-old filly named Open Arms won her career debut Sunday at Churchill Downs – breaking an eye-opening 88-race losing streak for first-time starters trained by Wilkes – it came as something of a surprise to most racing fans.

“She couldn’t have done it much easier,” said Wilkes. “It’s always nice when they run to how they work. She’s a very talented filly.”

Before Open Arms ($11) ran to a 1 3/4-length triumph in the seven-furlong race, the most recent Wilkes beginner to win was Handy Candy, who scored at 33-1 on Sept. 6, 2014, at Churchill. Wilkes, 51, adopted many of the training philosophies of his longtime mentor and business associate, Hall of Fame trainer Carl Nafzger, who won the Kentucky Derby with Unbridled (1990) and Street Sense (2007) and is still a regular presence around the stable.

“We think along the same lines,” said Wilkes, who began gradually transitioning into head trainer of his joint operation with Nafzger in the fall of 2005, even before Street Sense had his first start.

“If a horse is good enough to win first out, that’s great,” said Wilkes, best known for winning the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic with Fort Larned. “But I sure don’t want to have them 110 percent. There’s got to be room for improvement and development. I don’t get too worried when a horse gets beat first time out.”

Open Arms, by 2010 Derby winner Super Saver, could be among the 20-plus horses Wilkes will be shipping to Saratoga after the Churchill spring meet ends July 2. The balance of his stable will remain at Churchill and the Skylight training center and will be active at other tracks in this region, mostly Ellis Park in western Kentucky.

“I haven’t decided whether Open Arms will go to Saratoga or not,” he said.

Open Arms was one of three winners for Wilkes in less than 24 hours. Walkabout, a half-sister to Fort Larned, won a two-turn maiden race Saturday night, and Sashenka won earlier on the Father’s Day card on Sunday. The two Sunday winners were ridden by Chris Landeros, who married Wilkes’s daughter, Shelby, last month.

“It was a nice Father’s Day,” he said.