Not a Lady could be value play on low-takeout Delta Downs card
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Not a Lady could offer a bit of value against Kontiki in the $100,000 My Trusty Cat on Tuesday at Delta Downs, where a special afternoon card will feature a reduced takeout rate of 10 percent on every wager available at the track located in Vinton, La.
The Tuesday and Wednesday programs are the first two of six cards to offer the reduced rate. The others will be on Wednesday, Dec. 22-23, and Dec. 29-30. First post is 12:55 p.m. Central.
Not a Lady could start as second choice to two-time stakes winner Kontiki in the My Trusty Cat. The race is for 2-year-old fillies at 7 1/2 furlongs, which is a two-turn configuration at Delta. The field of eight also includes stakes winner Ritzaphena.
Not a Lady is proven at two turns, and that’s one of the reasons she will be invading off back-to-back Remington wins.
“It’s timing and her having had success at a mile,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “It’s just going where we had success.”
Not a Lady dominated an entry-level allowance at a mile in her last start Oct. 25. She won off by more than six lengths, one race after taking a maiden special weight at five furlongs on turf in her second career start Oct. 4.
Not a Lady, who was prominent in both races, will break from post 4 on Tuesday. Joel Dominguez has the mount for Winchell Thoroughbreds.
“She’s got pace, but she’s very manageable,” Asmussen said.
Not a Lady will be making her stakes debut and is bred for such races as a daughter of perennial leading sire Into Mischief and the multiple stakes-winning mare Just a Lady. She was a $775,000 purchase as a yearling at the Keeneland September sale in 2024.
Kontiki will be making her two-turn debut in the midst of a campaign in which she has won a pair of stakes against fellow Ohio-breds to run her career record to 3 for 5.
The daughter of Midshipman is getting back on dirt for the My Trusty Cat after finishing fourth in the Presque Isle Debutante on a synthetic surface in her most recent out Sept. 19. The last time Kontiki ran on dirt she was a 12-length winner of the Miss Ohio on Aug. 14 at Thistledown.
Kontiki owns the field’s career-best Beyer Speed Figure, a 75, for her win in the Jim Morgan Memorial Tah Dah in July. She is out of the mare Hula Skirt, who is a half-sister to past Delta Downs Jackpot winner Turf War. Timothy Thornton has the mount from post 2 for trainer Brad Cox.
Ritzaphena is returning to two turns after a series of sprint starts. One of those efforts was a win in the Prairie Meadows Debutante. Ritzaphena’s debut, which she won, came in a route race. It was over 7 1/2 furlongs on turf in a maiden special weight at Lone Star Park. Ritzaphena gets good support for the added ground as her third dam is Hall of Fame member Dahlia. Isaac Castillo has the mount from post 3 for trainer Jayde Gelner.
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