Kimari rebounds with victory in Honorable Miss Handicap
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With the right post and the right trip, Kimari discovered her stakes-winning form from a year ago with a half-length victory in Wednesday’s Grade 2, $186,000 Honorable Miss Handicap at Saratoga.
Drawn on the outside in the four-horse field, Kimari, under Joel Rosario, was able to stay in the clear down the backstretch and when called upon, she ran down Frank’s Rockette, who finished 5 3/4 lengths clear of 3-5 favorite Bella Sofia.
The Ohio-bred Amadevil set the pace but then was basically eased through the stretch. It was reported by the New York Racing Association veterinarian that Amadevil, racing off Lasix for the first time in her career, bled through both nostrils. She was vanned off.
Kimari won for the eighth time in 15 starts. It was her sixth stakes victory. In April 2021, she won the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland.
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This year, Kimari won an allowance race at Gulfstream before finishing third in the Madison and then fifth in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill. Wesley Ward, trainer of Kimari, felt his 5-year-old mare was too close to the pace in the Madison. He said he ran her back too quick in the Derby City Distaff.
In the Honorable Miss, Kimari was third down the backside and then fourth around the turn as Amadevil set splits of 22.72 seconds for the quarter and 45.87 for the half-mile, chased by Bella Sofia. Frank’s Rockette, who stumbled leaving the gate, shot through an opening along the rail at the top of the stretch and got the jump on Kimari and Bella Sofia, who appeared to be struggling in upper stretch.
Frank’s Rockette had a clear lead at the furlong marker, but couldn’t hold off the late-running Kimari, who covered six furlongs in 1:10.78.
Kimari, owned by Westerberg Limited, Jonathan Poulin, and the Coolmore connections of Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Mrs. John Magnier, returned $8.10 to win.
“I just thought the race set up for her today, especially drawing the outside,” Ward said. “It gave Joel a nice easy run down the backside with no opposition as far as maneuvering to try and get [outside], he was already there when they opened the gates, so that was the key.”
Though Frank’s Rockette stumbled at the start under Flavien Prat, she recovered enough to run a winning race, trainer Bill Mott said.
Mott said Prat told him Frank’s Rockette “made the lead and was waiting a little bit. He said at the eighth pole if she would have kicked on a little more, but instead she just kind of hesitated a little bit.”
The disappointment of the race was Bella Sofia, who was coming in off two graded stakes victories and returning to the scene of her Grade 1 Test victory from a year ago. Trainer Rudy Rodriguez said jockey Luis Saez told him the filly was empty when he asked her for run.
“The track looked a little dull to me, but it is what it is, she had been training good over here,” Rodriguez said. “She just got beat, we’ll regroup.”
Though the Honorable Miss is meant as the prep for the Grade 1 Ballerina on Aug. 28, Ward indicated he may skip that race with an eye toward the Grade 2, $350,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes on Oct. 8 at Keeneland. That would be used as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, also at Keeneland, on Nov. 5.