Fresh off layoff, Ms Bad Behavior upsets Ladies Turf Stakes

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Ms Bad Behavior, when last seen racing in April, bore out and pulled up in the Royal Heroine Stakes at Santa Anita. Saturday at Kentucky Downs, making her first start in five months, she bore down and pulled off a 9-1 upset in the Grade 3 Ladies Turf.

Ms Bad Behavior broke out from post 9, widest gate in the race, but quickly established a clear early lead over her main pace rival, Mitchell Road, and over a course that was promoting speed horses all afternoon, the filly made her early lead stand up.

“We went fast the first quarter-mile, but going down the hill she really relaxed,” said Jose Ortiz, who was riding his third winner on the card. “This track, either horses really like it or they don’t like it at all. If they don’t, you have no shot.”

Ms Bad Behavior was making her first start at Kentucky Downs. She liked it and so does her trainer, California-based Richard Baltas, who now is 3 for 3, all stakes races, at this European-style racecourse.

Baltas, who trains Ms Bad Behavior for Sayjay Racing, Greg Hall, and Brooke Hubbard, said Ms Bad Behavior wasn’t lame back at the barn after Mike Smith, exercising an abundance of caution, pulled her up in the Royal Heroine after he felt her take a bad step. Baltas said no injury of consequence was discovered, but Ms Bad Behavior had been racing steadily for nine months and the decision was made to give her a good long rest.

Rested she was. Ms Bad Behavior, keeping her balance nicely over this undulating course, never wavered, holding Mitchell Road, the 11-10 favorite, at bay through the long Kentucky Downs homestretch. She was timed in 1:35.25 for one mile on firm turf and crossed the finish 1 1/2 lengths in front of Mitchell Road. Simply Breathless, who was stymied behind horses for the better part of a quarter-mile, finally found some room along the fence at the furlong grounds and was along for third, a nose in front of Storm the Hill.

As an Ontario-bred, Ms Bad Behavior wasn’t eligible for the $200,000 portion of this purse available only to Kentucky-breds and so earned $180,420 of the race’s $356,320 total pot. It was a first graded stakes win for Ms Bad Behavior, a 4-year-old daughter of Blame and the Stormy Atlantic mare, Cumulonimble.

Morticia buries Ladies Sprint rivals

Morticia kept her poise Saturday and cruised to a sharp score in the Grade 3, $476,300 Ladies Sprint on Saturday at Kentucky Downs.

After a tough trip two starts ago, Morticia got stirred up in the paddock before the Smart N Fancy Stakes last month at Saratoga.

“She’s always been a fiery filly,” said trainer Rusty Arnold. “Once she starts to lose it, she doesn’t get it back.”

It was a different Morticia that Arnold saw when he put a saddle on her before the Ladies Sprint. She broke like a rocket under Tyler Gaffalione and never had an anxious moment posting a 1 3/4-length victory.

Mortica is an accomplished 5-year-old mare who was making her 25th start but might never had turned in a better performance, according to her trainer.

“I think she might just have run her best race,” said Arnold.

It was a good day, too, for Arnold, who captured the secondary feature, the Runhappy Turf Sprint, with Totally Boss. Gaffalione also notched his second stakes on the day having won the Juvenile Turf Sprint on Cambria.

Gaffalione’s task in the Ladies Sprint mainly was to keep Morticia pointed in the right direction. Clear throughout, Morticia never felt pressure and skipped across this firm turf course with great energy, stopping the timer in 1:15.85 for 6 1/2 furlongs. Runner-up A Little Bit Me had a half-length on 9-5 favorite Oleksandra. Oleksandra ran a strong race for third as one of the few horses all afternoon to make up meaningful ground over a course biased toward front-runners.

Morticia, who paid a generous $12, was bred in partnership by Arnold and her owner, G. Watts Humphrey. By Twirling Candy, by Halloween Party, by Mr. Greeley, she won for the 10th time in what might have been the penultimate start of her career. Morticia will race next month at Keeneland in the Franklin County Stakes, which, Arnold said, could be her swan song.