Katie M'lady must deal with Oeuvre in namesake race

The 6-year-old Illinois-bred mare Katie M’lady hasn’t run since August, and when she returns to action Sunday at Hawthorne, it will be in a race named after her.

Yes, Katie M’lady is one of six Illinois-bred fillies and mares in the one-mile $75,000 Katie M’lady Handicap on the Hawthorne turf. The mare’s long layoff has come about due to the lack of suitable racing, and trainer Michele Boyce said it was never the plan to retire Katie M’lady to become a broodmare.

“They named the race before they asked me about her,” Boyce said. “I guess they were just looking to change some names of races. She’s done a lot of good racing at Hawthorne.”

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This is true. Katie M’lady has 3 wins and 3 seconds from 6 starts on the Hawthorne grass course and finished third in her pre-layoff start, which came on Hawthorne’s main track. Had Boyce found a prep race for the mare, she might give odds-on favorite Oeuvre a tussle. But Oeuvre, in sprints at least, is a faster horse than Katie M’lady, and Oeuvre has held to a steady racing pattern for the better part of a year.

Hawthorne racing secretary Dave White treated the Katie M’lady like a real handicap, saddling Oeuvre with 130 pounds. Katie M’lady carries 124 as the next-highest weight.

“Oeuvre is a stout filly. Mine’s on the smaller side,” said Boyce, who is part of the group – Cherrywood Racing and Oak Rock Racing – that bred and owns Katie M’lady. Boyce trained Katie M’lady’s dam, Katie the Lady, and second dam, Kate the Great. “She can’t sprint, so there’s just been no preps for her, and you can only get so fit off works. I think she could handle most of these, but I have to say going against Oeuvre, I don’t know that we’re ready.”

If Hawthorne persists, Oeuvre will have a race named after her, too. The Chris Block-trained, Richard Perkins homebred mare is a rare talent with regard to versatility and durability. It’s June of her 5-year-old season, and Oeuvre will be making her 29th start Sunday. Already a 16-time winner, Oeuvre probably goes best in turf sprints, but in April she won an open two-turn turf allowance race at Keeneland, and on May 19 at Hawthorne, she won the Third Chance Handicap, an Illinois-bred dirt sprint, by four lengths while carrying 128 pounds.

Katie M’lady will need to come back winning if she wants her connections to hoist her own trophy.

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