Portrait and Morning Gold co-favorites in Pocahontas
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – One need research no further than September 2018 to the last time the Pocahontas Stakes was a legitimate prep for the Kentucky Oaks. Serengeti Empress won the Pocahontas by a record 19 1/2 lengths, then returned to Churchill Downs in May to capture the 2019 Oaks.
Horsemen involved in the 2019 Pocahontas, the Saturday co-feature at Churchill, obviously are hoping for a similar occurrence. The race has an unproven group of 2-year-old fillies – none is a stakes winner, and all but a couple come straight from the maiden ranks – with everyone looking to take a giant leap forward to the Breeders’ Cup and beyond.
The 1 1/16-mile Pocahontas, the ninth of 11 Saturday races, not only is a Win and You’re In event toward the Nov. 1 BC Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita, but also the first qualifying-points race for the 2020 Oaks. The 3-1 co-favorites on the Churchill morning line are Portrait and Morning Gold, while the 4-1 third choice, British Idiom, will be scratched, said trainer Brad Cox.
Cox is the trainer of Portrait, whose owners, the Roth family of LNJ Foxwoods, are co-owners of 2019 Kentucky Derby winner Country House. A 12 1/2-length winner of an Aug. 25 maiden race at Ellis Park when equipped with blinkers for the first time, Portrait will have Shaun Bridgmohan back aboard when she breaks from post 3 in a field that will number no more than eight.
“We think a lot of this filly,” said Cox. “She’s coming back a touch quick, but she looks great and has maintained her weight. She’s not the fastest out of the gate, but the blinkers seemed to help with that last time.”
Morning Gold, with Jose Ortiz riding for trainer Kenny McPeek, comes off a dominating maiden score over the Saratoga turf. The daughter of Morning Line is the only starter in here to have won going two turns – except for Portrait, none of the others have even raced at a distance – and will be treated with Lasix for the first time Saturday.
“She might be a really good one, so yes we’re excited about her,” said McPeek, who won the Pocahontas in 2015 with Dothraki Queen and in 2016 with Daddys Lil Darling.
Other considerations include Shadilee and Lotta Ott, both last-out maiden sprint winners at Saratoga; Lazy Daisy, fourth in the Del Mar Debutante just two weeks ago for Doug O’Neill; and Blood Curdling, an 11-length winner at Colonial Downs in Virginia in her only start.
This is the 51st running of the Pocahontas. Prior winners include such notables as My Juliet (1974), Epitome (1987), Unbridled Elaine (2000), and Untapable (2013).
