Jessamine field full of runners exiting Kentucky Downs

The Kentucky Downs effect has crashed like a wave over the Jessamine Stakes, the Grade 2, $350,000 turf route for 2-year-old fillies Friday at Keeneland. Once the province of horses coming out of races in New York, this Jessamine drew 16 entrants, 13 of whom last raced at Kentucky Downs, where purses have gone through the roof.

Even May Day Ready, a New York-based filly, made her most recent start at the European style semi-oval in rural south-central Kentucky. After winning the $1 million Juvenile Fillies at Kentucky Downs, May Day Ready returned to Belmont Park, but on Tuesday, trainer Joe Lee put the filly on a van bound for Keeneland.

May Day Ready won her debut in a Saratoga turf route, though Lee said he started the filly sooner than he wanted simply because of race timing. Lee told jockey Frankie Dettori that May Day Ready would improve in her second start, which she did last month, and May Day Ready has continued coming forward since her first trip to Kentucky.

“She’s really, really done well,” Lee said. “I just hope she ships well again.”

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The 1 1/16-mile Jessamine has a 12-horse maximum, and at least one also-eligible should draw in, since trainer Graham Motion said he planned to scratch Correto, who drew post 12, in favor of the Miss Grillo this weekend at Aqueduct.

May Day Ready, in fact, had been set to run last weekend in the Miss Grillo before sodden conditions forced a postponement. Lee said May Day Ready’s owners, Larry and Karen Doyle’s Katierich Farm, desired to try the Jessamine rather than coming back in the Miss Grillo, so Lee gave May Day Ready an easy half-mile work on Tuesday before shipping her west.

“It’s not really normal procedure, but she hadn’t done anything since the 24th and she needed to stretch her legs,” Lee said. “If we’d have run Sunday in the Miss Grillo, I know we’d have run extremely well.”

Lee ran a fine-tooth comb through the Jessamine form and said no horse had impressed him more than Destino d’Oro, and without a doubt, her debut victory at Kentucky Downs caught the eye. Rating kindly under Flavien Prat in a one-mile maiden, Destino d’Oro cruised into contention without being asked, finishing with a flourish to tally by more than two lengths. Her trainer, Brad Cox, won this race in 2022 with Aunt Pearl, who came off a debut turf-route win at Churchill Downs.

Two other Kentucky Downs debutantes look like Jessamine contenders. Isle of Capri and Mechaya both showed speed and impressively won 6 1/2-furlong maiden races, the former for trainer Brendan Walsh, the latter for trainer Jimmy DiVito, and the way the two fillies galloped out, this two-turn contest should be within their scope.

Mechaya, a Liam’s Map filly, returned after her Aug. 29 victory to Hawthorne, where she since has posted a pair of bullet workouts.

“She did that easily. It was nothing for her. She has speed and she carries it well, as she did at Kentucky Downs,” said DiVito, who trains Mechaya for Richard Templer’s Doubledown Stables. “She was a little flighty when we first got her, but she’s gotten better physically and mentally – mentally especially.”

DiVito’s nephew, Larry Rivelli, starts Shezafunkydrummer, who was run down at the wire of the Untapable Stakes at Kentucky Downs by Kilwin, who closed powerfully through the final furlong. Shezafunkydrummer, making her turf debut after a sharp score in the Prairie Gold Lassie, might not have seen the winner coming, as she quickly galloped out far in front.

“By the way she trains, I think she’ll run long,” Rivelli said.

Totally Justified harks back to an earlier Jessamine era, exiting a win in the P.G. Johnson at Saratoga, a race worth $150,000, peanuts compared to Kentucky Downs stakes purses. Trained by Rusty Arnold, Totally Justified sat a perfect trip pressing a slow pace in the P.G. Johnson, her turf debut, though in the late stages she did bravely see off a challenge from Virgin Colada, a Jessamine also-eligible seemingly bound for the Miss Grillo.

Virgin Colada’s trainer, Chad Brown, has Ballerina d’Oro in the main body of the Jessamine. Ballerina d’Oro finished a troubled sixth behind May Day Ready debuting at Saratoga. Where did she clear the maiden ranks? Kentucky Downs, of course.

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