Kimari seeks Madison repeat against top-shelf field
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The 5-year-old mare Kimari doesn’t race often, but when she does, she is nearly always right. Ten times third or better and a winner in seven of her 12 starts, Kimari tries for a repeat victory in the Grade 1, $500,000 Madison Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland.
Kimari drew post 6 and will have Tyler Gaffalione on her back for the first time in a race. She faces nine rivals in a strong renewal of this seven-furlong dirt sprint for older fillies and mares.
Kimari missed winning the Grade 2 Queen Mary Stakes, a five-furlong, straight-course sprint, by a head during the 2019 Royal Ascot meeting. As it turns out, she’s a better dirt horse, a winner in all five of her dirt races.
“She’s just been a chore to keep sound, a lot of physical issues that have kept her down to 12 starts at age 5,” trainer Wesley Ward said.
Kimari won the Spring Fever Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 27, 2021, as a bridge to her three-quarter-length score in the Madison. This time around, she got a March 3 prep, dominating a Gulfstream Park allowance race.
“She wasn’t cranked up for that and came out it really well. We got her to Keeneland and gave her one nice cruising work and then the good three-quarters piece,” said Ward, referring to Kimari’s six furlongs in 1:14.80 on April 1. “The big thing is she loves a wet track, and it looks like we might get it.”
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Rain could end early Saturday afternoon, if it comes at all. There’s less than a 50 percent chance of precipitation earlier in the day.
Kimari, Bell’s the One, and Kalyposo are the race’s Grade 1 winners. Kalypso’s Grade 1 came Dec. 26 in the La Brea, an age-restricted Santa Anita sprint that yielded a lowly 81 Beyer Speed Figure.
Bell’s the One is legit, however, and dead-heated for second with Estilo Talentoso in the 2021 Madison. Neil Pessin trains Bell’s the One for Lothenbach Stables and even before 6-year-old Bell’s the One rejoined Pessin’s Fair Grounds barn following a winter break, the Madison was the big spring goal.
“She’s done everything we asked of her. We’ve been ahead of schedule,” Pessin said.
Bells the One has won half her 22 starts, earned more than $1.5 million, and was third in the 2020 Madison.
Both Brad Cox-trained starters, Lady Rocket and Just One Time, could be live, though each horse makes her Grade 1 debut. Lady Rocket capped her 4-year-old campaign of 2021 by turning in a career-best performance to win the Grade 3 Go for Wand at Aqueduct on Dec. 4 by nine lengths, earning a 107 Beyer Speed Figure, her best number by 13 points. Cox said Lady Rocket has trained like the same sharp mare for the Madison.
“Her last work especially was really, really good,” he said.
Cox and Just One Time’s owners have pointed the 4-year-old filly toward Saturday’s race since shortly after she won the Inside Information, a seven-furlong Grade 2 on Jan. 29 at Gulfstream. That was Just One Time’s first race after her original owner, Warriors Reward LLC, sold an interest in the filly to Commonwealth New Era Racing. Just One Time aired in her lone wet-track start and brings to the Madison a powerhouse work pattern highlighted by six furlongs in 1:11.20 on March 26, as fast a clocking as you’ll see at Fair Grounds.
Center Aisle won a sloppy-track, seven-furlong allowance race last fall at Keeneland and went on to capture another allowance race and the Dec. 18 Sugar Swirl at Gulfstream, making her 3 for 3 for trainer Paulo Lobo.
“This is a very tough race, but she did enjoy the little break,” Lobo said. “I think she’s improving, this mare. I see her training better than I ever have.”
Ward has a second entrant, Tiz Splendid News, who will show speed from post 10. Four Graces couldn’t handle Just One Time at Gulfstream and swims in deeper water now.
Six-year-old Club Car likes seven furlongs and Keeneland but just isn’t good enough to win. Her 4-year-old half-sister, Cilla, won the Grade 2 Prioress last year and raced competitively here six months ago finishing third in the seven-furlong Raven Run.
“If we’re going to try and see if we’re Grade 1 material, this is the race we needed to be in,” said Cilla’s trainer, Brett Brinkman.
Cilla could deliver a peak effort and still finish fourth. It’s a deep, tough Madison.