Houston Ladies Classic winner Bellamore headed to Azeri at Oaklawn

Bellamore and Free Like a Girl have gone their separate ways for now after finishing a respective one-two in a rousing renewal of the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Saturday at Sam Houston Race Park.

Bellamore was a neck winner over millionaire Free Like a Girl and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 91. The start was Bellamore’s first of the year and first for Steve Asmussen, who trains her for Kaleem Shah.

“She’s on to Oaklawn and we’ll train her up to the Azeri,” Asmussen said Tuesday. “We’ll just see what we can do. I feel good about her.

“She’s a very classy filly. We’re fortunate to have her.”

The Grade 2, $400,000 Azeri is March 9. It will be run over the same 1 1/16-mile distance of the Houston Ladies Classic.

Bellamore,making her first start since November, had one horse beat early in the Ladies Classic, advanced three wide on the final turn, and dug in to get past a stubborn Free Like a Girl.

In the aftermath of the engaging battle to the wire, Asmussen and Chasey Deville-Pomier, who trains Free Like a Girl, talked briefly about the game effort of both horses and exchanged a big “bear hug,” said Deville-Pomier.

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“That was the one we were scared of,” Deville-Pomier said of Bellamore.

Bellamore gave Asmussen a record fifth win in the Ladies Classic, which was inaugurated in 2013. He is the current leading trainer at Sam Houston, which is located in his home state of Texas.

“You know, Texas racing, Houston, their big race, all of it meant a ton to me,” said Asmussen.

Asmussen’s past winners of the Ladies Classic, which is the richest race of the meet, include Midnight Bisou. She launched her season in the race in 2019, earned a Beyer of 91, and one start later captured the Azeri.

Asmussen also has won the Ladies Classic twice with Pauline’s Pearl, in 2022 and 2023, and with Lady Apple, in 2020.

Bellamore, a daughter of Empire Maker, was winning her first stakes in the Ladies Classic.

“She’s a massive filly, stands over a lot of ground,” Asmussen said. “She’s very elegant, a very classic Empire Maker. She looks like an exceptional one.”

Free Like a Girl set a contested pace on a good track. For the effort she earned a career-high Beyer of 90. She jogged Tuesday at her Delta Downs base, where she is entered in the $125,000 Louisiana Premier Night Distaff on Saturday.

“She jogged this morning, looked beautiful,” Deville-Pomier said. “We’ll train her one more time, see what we’re doing. It’s still kind of up in the air right now [if we run.].”

Free Like a Girl is a 14-time stakes winner and the reigning Louisiana-bred of the year.

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