Lush Lips out of service until later this summer

The Grade 1-winning turf filly Lush Lips probably won’t race again until later this summer, trainer Brendan Walsh said Monday.

Lush Lips developed into the leading North American 3-year-old grass filly of 2025 and stood poised to add the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley to her résumé on April 11. Instead, Walsh had to scratch her with what he thought would be a relatively minor issue, but the problem, while not compromising in the long term, has persisted.

“Hopefully we’ll have her back going before too long, but it was a little more than we bargained for,” said Walsh, who trains Lush Lips for Dixiana Farms. Dixiana paid $3.7 million to acquire Lush Lips at auction in November.

Walsh still won the Jenny Wiley, albeit in a dead heat, with Expensive Queen. She has remained in steady training and will race next month at Saratoga, probably in the New York Stakes over 1 3/16 miles rather than the one-mile Just a Game.

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Walsh also had to scratch Bella Ballerina after the filly had been entered in the Kentucky Oaks, and Bella Ballerina has gone out of training for the time being, Walsh said.

Meanwhile the 4-year-old dirt-route filly Clicquot, fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at the end of her 3-year-old campaign, was eased April 4 in the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland, after which she was found to be harboring a virus. Clicquot’s back working and Walsh said he’s targeting the June 30 Shawnee at Churchill Downs.

Imaginationthelady came out of her win in the May 1 Edgewood Stakes in good order and has the July 3 Belmont Oaks Invitational as a major near-term goal. Walsh said the filly could start before that race – but probably won’t.

And, finally, 3-year-old filly Mashallah, whose debut victory April 23 at Keeneland earned a gigantic 106 Beyer Speed Figure, has a first-level, one-turn mile allowance race on May 30 at Churchill as a target, Walsh said.

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