Kimari wins loaded Purple Martin Stakes

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Kimari’s credentials keep adding up, with her latest a length and a quarter win over favorite Frank’s Rockette in the $100,000 Purple Martin on Saturday at Oaklawn Park.

The race, which was run on a sloppy track, was for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs.

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Kimari was winning the third stakes race of her career. She came from off the pace in her first start since November.

“She’s some filly,” said Wesley Ward, who trains Kimari for David Mowat. “And I tell you what, she’s a real easygoing filly. She goes turf. She can dirt. And she can go sloppy track, we found out today.”

Kimari ($7.80) broke from the rail and settled on the inside as Edgeway moved to the lead with ease and took the field through an opening quarter in 21.63 seconds and a half-mile in 45.26 seconds while tracked by Frank’s Rockette.

Kimari, meanwhile, was guided off the rail by jockey Channing Hill, came four wide into the stretch, and took after new leader Frank’s Rockette. Kimari moved past that one in the later stages and went on to cover the distance in 1:10.57.

“This race, a listed $100,000 stakes, looked like a Group 1 as talented as these fillies are,” Ward said.

Frank’s Rockette came into the Purple Mountain with the year’s highest Beyer Speed Figure for a 3-year-old filly, a 98. Edgeway, who ran third on Saturday, ranked second in the Beyer category, with a 94 for her debut win in February at Oaklawn. There were two other fillies that entered undefeated, Bootytama and Lexi On the Move.

Kimari has now won 4 of 6 starts, and the first-place check of $60,000 on Saturday pushed her earnings to $351,646. She won her career debut by 15 lengths last April at Keeneland, then traveled to the Royal Ascot meet in England and ran second by a head in the Group 1 Queen Mary Stakes.

From there, Kimari won the $100,000 Bolton Landing on turf at Saratoga and the $200,000 Indian Summer over males at Keeneland. She finished up her year with a close fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita.

Ward said Saturday a return to Royal Ascot is likely for Kimari. It was his intent to run her in the Beaumont at Keeneland as a prep for Royal Ascot, but when the Keeneland meet was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, he targeted Oaklawn for her.

Ward said Kimari is now a candidate for the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup on June 19 during Royal Ascot. It’s a six furlong race for 3-year-olds.

“We'll see what happens with Ascot," he said of scheduling in this era of the coronavirus pandemic.

Kimari is a daughter of Munnings and the Grade 3-winning mare Cozze Up Lady.