O'Connell enjoys Who's the Lady's victory from afar

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Nobody does more commuting during the winter than trainer Kathleen O’Connell, who splits her time between Gulfstream Park West, where she has 28 horses stabled, and Tampa Bay Downs, where she keeps 36 runners and is second in the meet standings.

As a result, O’Connell was not here Saturday to see her 3-year-old filly Who’s the Lady remain unbeaten with a wire-to-wire, three-quarter-length victory over the odds-on favorite Cursor in the $75,000 Any Limit Stakes. The Any Limit was the fourth win in as many starts for Who’s the Lady, a homebred daughter of Munnings who was ridden by Paco Lopez for Darsan Inc.

“I’ll take it any way I can get it,” O’Connell said by phone from Tampa on Monday. “I mean, it was kind of a weak field except for Cursor, who probably wants to go further and didn’t have the best of trips. My filly is very small, but she has a big heart, and she loves her job. She hasn’t grown an inch since I got her. But she’s been lucky, and I’m really happy for my owner.”

◗ Wednesday’s 11-race program will kick off the final week of the 2016-17 championship meeting and features a carryover of $1,354,776 in the Rainbow 6 pool. There will be a mandatory payout of the entire pool Sunday.

◗ Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf runner-up Coasted was the big name on Monday’s work tab at Gulfstream, going five furlongs in 1:02.77 on the main track, with her final three-eighths in 36.79. Coasted finished second to Dream Dancing in the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride while launching her 3-year-old campaign here this month. Coasted, trained by Leah Gyarmati, is nominated to Saturday’s $100,000 Sanibel Island Stakes.

◗ There will be 14 races on Saturday’s Florida Derby program, with first post scheduled at noon Eastern.