First graded stakes win – with an asterisk

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Pat Dupuy doesn’t want to be greedy after just winning the first graded stakes of his 26-year training career.

But, boy, with just a little better racing luck, I’m a Looker could have won the Grade 3 Winning Colors outright Saturday instead of settling for a dead heat with Diva Express. Not only did she lose valuable ground when she got away last in the six-furlong race, but the always-critical nod on the wire seemed to favor Diva Express.

“A better head bob and we’ve got it,” said Dupuy. “Oh well. It’s one of those things you can’t change.”

Dupuy, 58, is the husband of longtime turf writer Jennie Rees. He trains I’m a Looker, a 4-year-old Henny Hughes filly, for the Glenmare Farm LLC of Chet Miller and Susan Weiss. Miller bought I’m a Looker as a yearling for a mere $4,500 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky mixed sale in February 2013. The filly now has earned $180,980 from 15 starts.

◗ Kentucky Derby also-rans Tom’s Ready and Whitmore both were supposed to turn back to seven furlongs in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens on the June 11 Belmont Stakes card, but now only Tom’s Ready is advancing to that race. The Dallas Stewart-trained colt breezed a half-mile Sunday in 47.40 seconds at Churchill.

Meanwhile, Ron Moquett said Whitmore was recently turned out on a Midway, Ky., farm.

“He’d been hard at it for quite a while, and I wanted to give him a little break and time to just be a horse,” said Moquett. “I’d actually like to make the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with him.”

◗ Divisidero continues to flourish following his breakthrough Grade 1 victory in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic. The 4-year-old colt had his second breeze toward the Grade 1 Manhattan on the Belmont Stakes card, getting a half-mile Sunday in 48.80 seconds.

“He is some kind of good right now,” trainer Buff Bradley said with a shake of his head. “I hope I can keep him just like this.”

◗ Not only did they both carry the No. 2 saddletowel in two-turn races, but a pair of 3-year-olds were making their first starts since being gelded when they captured back-to-back races Sunday at Churchill. Nominal Dollars, trained by Al Stall Jr., won a maiden-claiming race some 30 minutes before Lomcevak pulled a 9-1 upset in a turf allowance for owner-trainer Jack Frost.

◗ Jockey Robby Albarado and his wife, Paige, are celebrating the birth of a son: Liam Chase Albarado checked in early Monday at a Louisville hospital at 7 pounds, 10 ounces. It is the couple’s first child together and the fourth for Albarado, who has won nearly 4,900 races in a career dating to 1990.