Ivy Bell steps up in Humana Distaff

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A month after many of the nation’s best older female sprinters threw down in the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland, some are back for Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Humana Distaff on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill Downs.

Although morning-line favoritism is focused on the top returnees from the Madison – victorious Finley’sluckycharm, third-place Lewis Bay, and fourth-place American Gal – four new shooters, including graded winners Ivy Bell and Skye Diamonds, seem to ensure the race will not be a rerun of the Keeneland contest.

Ivy Bell and Skye Diamonds come off performances that were fast enough to suggest they can contend, though Ivy Bell made the stronger visual impression.

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Making her first start for trainer Todd Pletcher in the Grade 2 Inside Information on March 17 at Gulfstream following a private acquisition, she broke much cleaner than she had in her final races of 2017. Thereafter she encountered trouble, getting buried behind horses for six furlongs of the seven-furlong race, before finally securing room in midstretch and accelerating to win by a length.

Her time of 1:23.29 earned her a 92 Beyer Speed Figure, a few points short of the 95 that Finley’sluckycharm received for the Madison, but her closing furlong, which Trakus timed in 11.88 seconds, was a split worthy of an elite horse running on grass, a surface on which horses quicken more so than on dirt.

The Humana Distaff does represent a class hike for Ivy Bell, who in winning the Inside Information defeated a group more representative of Grade 3 quality. And if she is to win, she will have to catch Finley’sluckycharm, a filly that defeated her by 2 1/4 lengths at this seven-furlong trip in the Chicago Handicap at Churchill when they last met in June of last year.

Finley’sluckycharm has defeated many over her career at Churchill Downs, going 6 for 6 over the local strip, though as trainer Bret Calhoun acknowledged during training hours this week, “They’ve never been the caliber of race that this one is.”

Regardless, he has reason to be confident racing her beneath the twin spires, particularly coming off a sharp half-mile breeze in 48.40 seconds on April 27 at Churchill under regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr.

“She trains good, runs good wherever she goes,” Calhoun said of his mare, a 5-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy who has made $788,368 in winning 10 of 15 starts. “But when we worked her this past Friday, Brian came back and said she is just different on this track. She just gets over it so much better.”

She is not alone in having a liking for Churchill Downs. Ivy Bell and longshots Miner’s Cat and Torrent also have recorded victories over the main track. And still others ran well in losing efforts in past years in the Kentucky Oaks, with Lewis Bay third in 2016 and Salty fifth last year.

Ivy Bell and Salty were cross entered in Friday’s Grade 1 La Troienne going 1 1/16 miles. Ivy Bell was scratched from the La Troienne to go in the Humana Distaff, but Salty ran in the La Troienne - and won.

Lewis Bay, two noses behind Finley’sluckycharm in the Madison and a head in front of American Gal, the 2017 Test winner, is seeking her first Grade 1 victory.

“She’s been a real consistent filly, the kind you want to have in your barn, because she fires every time,” trainer Chad Brown said. “That said, it’s been a little frustrating, ’cause she’s had some narrow defeats and she hangs a little bit occasionally right near the wire, no matter what distance you’re running her in.”

American Gal, who dueled inside with Finley’sluckycharm in the Madison, now figures to be on the outside after landing post 8. Making her second start following an eight-month layoff, she was eager in a half-mile breeze in 49.40 seconds on April 29 at Santa Anita, dragging her rider around the racetrack, in contrast to some of her pre-Madison works when she at times lacked her customary zeal.