Good Deed drops into Sunday allowance sprint
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Racing in front of a record Kentucky Oaks Day crowd of 116,046 on May 1 at Churchill Downs, Good Deed got rattled in the starting gate before the Twin Spires Turf Sprint, broke a couple of lengths slowly, and finished in a dead heat for fourth.
Two factors work in her favor when she returns to race Sunday at Churchill Downs. First, the crowd will be at least 100,000 smaller – which should help if the crowd was what led to her gate fractiousness – and second, she’s facing a smaller, easier field in a $58,000 allowance going five furlongs on grass.
Unlike the Twin Spires Turf Sprint, where she was matched against males, she also is back running with fillies and mares. And though three of her four rivals are of stakes quality, none are of the quality of the horses she faced in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint.
Trainer Steve Margolis said the nervous gate behavior and slow start were out of character for Good Deed.
“We’ve stood her a couple times since, and she’s been perfect,” he said.
A 6-year-old daughter of Broken Vow owned by breeders Richard and Bert Klein, she will be ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr.
Due to its small field, the race is carded early Sunday as the third race.
Key contenders
Adrianne G (Last 3 Beyers: 76-89-83)
* Picked up her second career stakes placing with a runner-up finish in the Tellike Stakes at Evangeline Downs when sprinting five furlongs on the grass May 1. That race marked her third finish in the exacta in as many races this year.
Good Deed (Last 3 Beyers: 90-87-97)
* She has shown an affinity for the Churchill Downs turf course, with her first local defeat coming in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint. Two prior efforts on the local grass resulted in blowout victories and Beyer Speed Figures of 110 and 99.
* She also had a poor break two starts ago Feb. 21 in the Ladies Turf Sprint at Gulfstream Park, though that start was largely the result of rivals sandwiching her early.
Richies Party Girl (Last 3 Beyers: 88-45-88)
* She makes her third start of the year after an improved third in the Unbridled Sidney Stakes following a lackluster first start of 2015 over yielding ground in the Giant’s Causeway at Keeneland. She has notched three stakes wins, the second most in this field behind Good Deed’s five stakes victories.